By the Rev. A. C. Smith. 43 
we are, to such a variety of changes in the state of the atmosphere, 
and these changes so constantly recurring, far more frequently in- 
deed than in continental districts, as very slight consideration of 
the principles of atmospheric variation at once demonstrates to be 
necessarily the case; the state of the weather is really a subject of 
































paramount importance to us; and while a cold damp raw day is a 
_ fair subject of condolence, a bright warm sunny day is unquestionably 
a legitimate subject of congratulation. 
It is for the same reason, as I imagine, that proverbs on the 
weather have been so universal in the mouths of our peasantry ; and 
now that the advance of education is driving away our folk-lore, and 
the vast accumulation of modern literature is thrusting out of sight 
the quaint old sayings, generally replete with wisdom and truth, 
_ though clad in never so homely a garb, which still linger in our 
country parishes, it is time for the archzologist to rescue them from 
_ oblivion, and to collect and store up these pithy maxims, the result 
of patient observation of Nature’s prognostics; and which (I will 
_ venture to say), being founded on such true principles, are often 
‘more to be relied upon than the dicta of the Meteorological Society, 
with all its delicate and sensitive instruments, its barometers, its 
wet and dry bulb thermometers, its aneroids and ozonometers to 
boot: for these may be faulty, and deceive us, but Nature never errs, 
and if we can but read her aright, spreads out the page with un- 
deviating accuracy. 
Now the labourer, and above all the shepherd, employed all his 
life long on our open Wiltshire Downs and fields, has remarkable 
opportunities for studying the sky, and noting the signs of the 
seasons; and I have very often been amazed at the accuracy with 
: wh hich he can forecast a change in the weather, when to ordinary 
eyes not the slightest symptoms of alteration were apparent: but 
__ thisis an instinct derived from constant observation; and, to amindnot 
- overburdened with many thoughts, has become a habit monopolizing 
‘no small part of his attention. It is an instinct too which depends 
"more upon prolonged experience than abstract reasoning ; and it is 
Bs an instinct shared, though in still larger measure, by many branches 
4 of the animal and even the vegetable world, beasts and birds and 
G2 
