TO JUDGE OF THE BAROMETEU. 195 



about the wall ! There he can enjoy the compa- 

 ny of a talkative brother angler, have his trouts 

 dressed for supper, tell tales, sing old tunes, or 

 make a catch ! There he can talk of the wonders 

 of nature, with pious admiration, or find some 

 harmless sport to content him, and pass away a 

 little time, without offence to God, or injury to 

 man I ! 



CHAP. IX. 

 Rules to Judge of the Barometer. 



BY the help of the Barometer, we seem to re- 

 gain that foreknowledge of the weather 

 which still resides in brutes, and which we for- 

 feited, by not continuing in the open air as they 

 generally do, and by our intemperances, lessen- 

 ing our sensibility of external objects. 



The changes that take place in the atmosphere, 

 are principally marked by the rising and falling 

 of the Barometer, which apparently is caused by 

 heat and cold, the hands witli which Nature per- 

 forms her meteorological operations ; by the former 

 the atmosphere is rarefied and consequently be- 

 comes light; by the latter it is condensed, and 

 consequently becomes heavy. 



The Barometer falls suddenly while the air is 

 expanded before a gale of wind, and rises again 

 gradually as the condensed air returns, and the 

 gale in like manner by degrees subsides. 



An extraordinary fall of the mercury will 

 sometimes take place in Summer, previous to 

 heavy showers of rain, particularly if attended 

 with thunder and lightning; but in Spring, 

 Autumn, and Winter, the sudden extraordinary 



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