This idea is common throughout Europe. If the sun shines clearly on Easter Day, In Germany, they aver that the badger good weather and good times are in store, peeps out of his hole upon Candlemas and one may make sure of seeing the morning, and if the ground be white with sun upon Whitsunday. The lightest of snow, takes his waiks abroad; but showers falling upon Ascension Day is should the sunshine greet his eyes, he an omen dire, foretelling sickness among will not venture from his snug abiding- cattle, and great scarcity of food for man. place; being of one mind with the shep- A reverse result follows a dry Holy-Thursherd, who would rather see a wolf enter day, and pleasant weather may be expecthis fold, than the sun, upon Candlemas ed almost up to Christmastide. A fine Day. So in Norfolk the proverb goes Whitsunday means a plentiful harvest, that a shepherd would prefer seeing his but if any rain falls then, thunder and wife on the bier, than the sun shining lightning, bringing blight and mildew clear upon Candlemas Day; and they with it, may be expected. Almost as illfirmly believe in the wisdom of the omened is a wet Midsummer Day, for rhymes: although apples, pears, and plums will not be affected thereby, nut-bushes will

On Candlemus Day, if the thorns hang a drop, prove barren, and the corn-fields be smitThen you are sure of a good pea-crop.

As far as the sun shines in on Candlemas Day,
So far will the snow blow in afore Old May.

ten with disease.

It was a proverb in Scotland that if the deer rose dry and lay down dry on Bullion's Day, there would be an early harvest. Considering the soldier-saint was the chosen patron of publicans and dispensers of good liquor, it seems odd that a shower falling upon St. Martin's Day should be supposed to indicate a twenty days' opening of heaven's sluices. Martin, however, when he went in for wet, was more moderate than his uncanonized brother Swithun, commonly called St. Swithin; he, as every one knows, is content with nothing under forty days:

In 1855, a correspondent of Notes and Queries announced that the Candlemas prognostication had been verified in Norfolk, if nowhere else, when a spell of rough winter weather was brought to an end by a fair and sunny Candlemas Day. "On the following evening, about ten o'clock, a thaw suddenly commenced; but on the evening of the fifth, frost again set in with increased intensity, which continued uninterruptedly to February the twentyfourth, the ice in the broads' ranging Saint Swithin's Day, gin ye do rain, from eight inches to a foot in thickness." For forty days it will remain; But he had forgotten to take the change Saint Swithin's Day, an' ye be fair, of style into account; so the striking For forty days 'twill rain nae mair. verification of the ancient superstition Why this should be, has been explained was no verification at all. The Hebri- in this wise: When the good Saxon deans observe, or did observe, an odd Bishop of Winchester departed this life custom. On Candlemas Day, in every some thousand years ago, he was, in achouse, a sheaf of oats was dressed in cordance with his expressed wish, buried feminine attire, and laid, with a big club in the churchyard, so that his humble by its side, in a basket, called "Brüd's bed." Before turning in for the night, grave might be trodden by the feet of the mistress and her maids cried in passers-by, and receive the eaves-dropchorus: "Brüd is come! Brüd is wel-pings from the abbey roof. Thus he was permitted to rest undisturbed for a huncome!" If, next morning, an impres-dred years; then the clergy of the diosion of the club was visible in the ashes cese took it into their heads to have the on the hearth, it was held a sure presage of an abundant harvest, and a prosperous year; if the club had not left its mark, it was an omen of coming bad times.

Down Winchester way it is commonly believed that from whichever quarter the

wind blows chiefly upon Palm-Sunday, it will blow during the best part of the summer. In Hertfordshire they hold that

A good deal of rain upon Easter Day
Gives a good crop of grass, but little good hay.

saint taken up, and deposited inside the
cathredral; but when they set about the
work, the rain came down with such vio-
lence that they were compelled to desist,
and finding the deluge continued for
forty days, interpreted it to be a warning
against removing Swithin's remains, and
therefore contented themselves with
erecting a chapel over his grave. As
poor Robin sings:

Whether this were so or no,
Is more than you or I do know.

Better it is to rise betime,

And to make hay while sun doth shine
Than to believe in tales and lies
Which idle monks and friars devise.

Mr. Earle, however, has shewn that while
it is true that St. Swithin did leave di-

shiny winter, the pleasantness of which will be neutralized by nipping, long-staying north-easters. Merry Christmas sadly belies its name in its prognostications, which are of such a very lugubrious order, that, did we trust in them, we should be inclined to parody Carey's famous song, and pray:

rections that he should be buried in a vile place, under the eaves-droppings, on the north side of Winchester church, there Of all the days that are in the week, was no supernatural protest on his part Come Christmas but on one day, And that is the day that comes between against his relics being removed to the The Saturday and the Monday! magnificent shrine prepared for them in Ethelwold's cathedral. On the contrary, A Sunday Christmas Day is the only one the weather was most propitious for the prophetic of unalloyed good, being the ceremony. Whoever was at the pains of harbinger of a new year in which beasts inventing the story of the forty days' will thrive, fields flourish, and all lands tempest, misapplied his imaginative fac- rest in peace. When Christmas Day falls ulties altogether, since the phenomenon upon a Wednesday, we may hope for a popularly associated with St. Swithin is genial summer, as recompense for a as apocryphal as the story concocted to stormy winter; but when it falls upon account for it. From observations made any of the remaining five, a severe winter at Greenwich in the twenty years ending without any compensation is in store for with 1861, it appears that during that us; supplemented by war and cattleterm forty days' rain was never known to plague, when the festival comes upon a follow St. Swithin's Day; while, oddly Monday; with mortality among kings enough, the wettest weather came when and great people, when it comes upon a the saint failed to "christen the apples." Tuesday; and by a great clearing-off of In only six instances in 1841. 1845, old folks, when it falls upon a Saturday. 1851, 1853, 1854, and 1856-did it rain If Childermas Day be wet, it threatens at all upon the fateful day; and the forty us with dearth; if it be fine, it promises days following shewed respectively us abundance; and as the wind blows on twenty-three, twenty-six, thirteen, eigh-the last night of December, it tells what teen, sixteen, and fourteen rainy ones. the unborn year will bring - for On the other hand, there were twelve wet If New-year's eve night-wind blow south, days out of the forty after the dry St. It betokeneth warmth and growth; Swithin of 1842, twenty-two after that of If west, much milk, and fish in the sea; 1843, twenty-nine after that of 1860, and If north much cold and storms there will be; no less than thirty-one after that of 1848. If east, the trees will bear much fruit; Not that any evidence is likely to shake If north-east, flee it, man and brute. the faith of believers in the ancient no

tion. Convinced against their will, they will hold their old opinion still, like Hone's lady-friend, who, finding her favourite saint's day fine, prophesied a long term of beautiful weather; but when a few drops of rain fell towards evening, veered round, and was positive six weeks of wet impended. Her first prophecy

turned out to be the correct one; but the obstinate dame would not have it so, declaring stoutly that if no rain had fallen in the day-time, there certainly must have been some at night. There are rainy saints beside Swithin; in Belgium they pin their faith to St. Godeliève; in France, to Saints Gervais and Protais, and St. Médard.

If Bartholomew's Day be ushered in by a hoar-frost, followed by mist, a sharp, biting winter will come in due time. A fine Michaelmas Day betokens a sun

Not the least amusing thing about all these sage predictions, as regards weather, is that they take no account of the change from old to new style, which altered the exact position of the days named; there being now, for example, a difference of twelve days between old St. Swithin's and new St. Swithin's Day. Weather prophets are above minding this

awkward trifle.

From The Spectator.

THE USELESSNESS OF ABSTRACT

FREACHING.

THERE are few questions better worth discussing than that which the Bishop of Oxford started at the Church Congress, and on which Sir Stafford Northcote touched in his address to the Torring

ton farmers, to wit, the relation in the vest themselves of that exactness instruction and guidance of mankind of which, according to Bacon, is made by writthe abstract to the concrete, the general ing, and don the loose-flowing dishabille of to the particular, the law or principle to platitude. All readers of the Times the specific instance. The method of the Editor, we fancy, best of all-can dealing with the dispute between the agri- tell the article which is written for the cultural labourers and their employers, sake of sound from that which has a which the Bishop of Oxford commended, definite purpose and is based upon real and of which Sir Stafford Northcote knowledge. An amusing example in the highly approves, is one which may be ap- former kind was given the other day. plied in countless ways. "Preach a pure The article was on farming, and à propos and lofty morality to both parties, and of the grazing of milch cows agriculturalpronounce no decision upon the particu- ists were admonished that "all these lar case," this is in effect the advice of things are in the hands of a Power which the Bishop and the Baronet. The "func- we cannot control, and had best not tions" of the clergy, thinks Sir Stafford, rashly impugn." The tenant-farmers of are "spiritual," it is their duty "to Bucks and Somerset were illuminated raise the general character of their par- with the remark that "man has to assist ishioners,"" to endeavour to bring among Nature, and supplement the great work them feelings of Christian kindliness," to of Creation." After this, can we doubt expatiate in a lofty and cloudless region that the price of beef will fall, and that where no speck of mundane dust can Mr. Disraeli may once more indulge sully the white of their professional gar- freely in the mutton of black-faced ments, and to keep themselves apart from sheep? the controversies of the street, the field, The grand drawback to the general the market. One thing must be con- method is that, though men are pleased ceded to Sir Stafford Northcote, that with it, nature disowns it, and that men there is comfort in the method he praises. even, when asked to pay for it, not in It is easy; and it is pretty sure of being plaudits, but in cash, are apt to find it applauded. Most people have recourse out. The social favourite, who is thought to it, more or less, in their vocation. In by everyone to be a paragon of wisdom politics it is, for its own purposes, invalu- because his observations are wide enough able and almost infallible, and it may be to cover, or seem to cover, contradictory doubted whether Constitutional govern- opinions, will meet sometimes with a rement could get on without it. How buff. "Then you are of my opinion," could Prime Ministers compose speeches says Croaker to Honeywood in Goldfrom the Throne, or under-secreta- smith's play. Entirely," is the reply. ries answer Parliamentary questions, or "And you reject mine?" cries Mrs. orators produce their most thrilling Croaker. "Heaven forbid, madame ! effects, if they were not permitted to No, sure, no reasoning could be more launch into general principles ? The just than yours." This appeases the lady. very thunder which shakes the arsenal is O, then," she says, 66 you think I'm a general maxim wrapped up in a sono- quite right?" "Perfectly right," smiles rous phrase. If we were asked by a young Honeywood. But unhappily the husband orator for an old orator would not re- has not taken himself away. "A plague quire any information on the subject of plagues!" exclaims Croaker, how he could without fail move an audi- can't be both right. I ought to be sorry, ence, we should tell him to think of some or I ought to be glad. My hat must be political or social maxim which no human on my head, or my hat must be off." In being in a state of mental and moral politics general maxims are good for the sanity could question, and to utter it in hustings, or even in the House of Comloud tones, with flashing eyes, fierce mons; but they will not do for Crimean gesticulation, and the whole air of one wars or Indian mutinies. Their worth in who was incurring imminent risk of mar- the world of action has been pithily protyrdom. In society, the fluent and viva-nounced upon by Macaulay, and no praccious retailer of current maxims, who tical man will dispute the soundness of shuns particular cases, and is deft enough his estimate: - Every one who has to avoid treading on the toes of the com- seen the world knows that nothing is so pany, is the successful man. Writers for useless as a general maxim. If it be very the Press enjoy less than most persons of the emotional glow of easy and applauded vagueness, but even they occasionally di

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we

moral and very true, it may serve for a copy to a charity boy. If, like those of Rochefoucauld, it be sparkling and

whimsical, it may make an excellent the farmers, when any of their live stock motto for an essay. But few indeed is ailing and cannot be perfectly cured, of the many wise apophthegms which is to "get rid of it," without mention of have been uttered, from the time of the the ailment. There is a constant temptaSeven Sages of Greece to that of Poor tion to overload horses, and to use them Richard, have prevented a single foolish with cruel carelessness. We said that we action." have been nearly ten years in the parish. We have heard preaching in the parish church all the time; and we are prepared to state that, if a few allusions to drunkenness are allowed for, we have never known the preacher lay a "fiery finger" upon, or so much as mention, any one of the peculiar vices and temptations of the place, systematic selfishness, utter and unabashed, is the practical moral code, and never have we known the clergyman come down from the clouds to the extent even of saying, "If you 'best' your

We may be permitted, then, to doubt whether the general and abstract method of spiritual instruction is that by which the Clergy of England will practically benefit their parishioners. Our own experience, extending over a period of nearly ten years in a country parish, would lead us to conclude that preaching of this kind has absolutely no more effect upon the character or lives of the parishioners than the moaning of the wind has upon the bones that lie in the churchyard. During that period we have gradually become neighbours, and watch day and night for acquainted with the characteristic temp- the advantage in bargains, you are viotations, failings, tricks, vices, and crimes lating the law of Christ." The conseof the neighbourhood. The chief social quence in our case has been that we ill, of course, is that the men drink their scorn and detest the hypocritic sham of wages, instead of taking them home to mouthing moral platitudes which have no their wives. Market gardening is the effect whatever. Our distinct impression prevailing occupation. The people are is that it has never occurred to the great tempted to trickery in weighing their body of parishioners that the sermons goods and in preparing them for market, preached in the parish church have, or and many tricks they practise. It is not are meant to have, any connection whatsafe to buy a sack of potatoes without ever with their daily life. And we are weighing it, or a basket of apples without perfectly sure that no good will be done looking whether those on the top are not by inculcating, as the sum of morality, immensely better in quality than those the imitation of Christ, until preachers below, or a truss of hay without ascertaining whether a brick has been inserted to increase the weight. The rule with

also say how Christ would act if He had vegetables to sell or horses to drive.

the churches of Paris; we may mention especially a statue of the Virgin to be executed in marble for the new church of Notre-Damedes-Champs, for which M. Le Père has received the commission. Besides commission

THE Journal Officiel informs us that the Municipal Council of Paris has recently voted a sum for the purchase of works of art for the embellishment of the city. The Préfet of the Seine has divided the commissions for these works among divers painters, sculptors, en-ing new works the Municipal Administration gravers, medallists, and painters on glass. The commissions for paintings alone amount to as many as sixteen, the most important perhaps being that given to M. Signol, member of the Institute, who is charged with the decoration of the right arm of the great cross of the church of Saint-Sulpice, the left arm having been painted by him some time ago.

The decoration of the grand church of La Trinité is to be continued, and the painting of two of the chapels has been entrusted to MM. Barrias and Lecomte-Dunouy. Other wellknown artists are likewise to be employed on this great work, the expense of which is to be shared by the State with the City. Several works of sculpture have also been ordered for

charges itself with the restoration of the mural paintings, mutilated statues and other works of art, principally in the churches of Paris, which were injured during the siege and reign of the Commune. All such restorations are confided to trustworthy artists, in one case (that of M. Dumont, whose statue of the Virgin in Notre-Dame de Lorette was broken during the insurrection) the artist himself being charged with the restoration of his own work. It would perhaps be as well if our City Corporation would bear in mind this munificence of the impoverished city of Paris. Who ever heard of the Lord Mayor and Aldermen voting a sum for the purchase of works of art!

VII. MR. JOHN STUART MILL'S AUTOBIOGRAPHY, Spectator,
VIII. THE AMERICAN EXCHANGE ON ENGLAND,. Economist,

THE VALLEY OF BERACHAH,

SUNLIGHT AND SHADOW,

MISCELLANY,

POETRY.

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