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light upon the manners and habits, the genius and intelligence, of 

 the age to which they belong. They reveal to us the mind and 

 tone of thought of those who utter them. They let us into their 

 experiences, their knowledge of character, their powers of judgment 

 and discrimination ; they show how things presented themselves to 

 their eyes in their intercourse with the world or amid the works of 

 nature ; how far they were correct observers, and correct in 

 generalising, so as to compress in a few words the truths to which 

 their observations led them. In some proverbs there may be much 

 trifling, or perhaps coarseness and vulgarity ; but in others there 

 are embodied great truths ; in many there is not wisdom only, but 

 philosophy. 



But to confine ourselves to that class of proverbs with which 

 alone we are concerned just now — Weather Proverbs. These, no 

 doubt, have originated in a desire to know beforehand what the 

 coming weather is likely to be, as affecting men's particular 

 callings and occupations, their state of health and other circum- 

 stances. It is natural in such case to take notice of any phenomena 

 or occurrences which seem to have the slightest bearing on the 

 question, as also to be quick in drawing conclusions, especially 

 when the observed phenomena have been found on some previous 

 occasion to coincide with weather of a particular chai'acter. 



In this method of proceeding there may be truth, or there may 

 be error. There will be truth so far as our observations are 

 correct, and in proportion to the number of observations we get 

 together, and the fairness with which we compare cases that appear 

 similar before reasoning from one to the other. There will be 

 error, if we fail of such precision as is required in all scientific 

 inquiries; if we suffer our judgment to be biassed by circumstances 

 irrelevant to the matter we are looking into ; or if, after having 

 noticed a few coincidences such as are above alluded to, we hastily 

 gather that the occuri'ences which coincide, perhaps by mere 

 accident, are inseparable, and erect our dictum respecting them 

 into a prognostic, without noticing other instances in which the 

 coincidence fails. Or there may be both truth and error mixed up 

 in our sayings, and which prevails will depend partly upon the age 

 in which we live and pai-tly upon ourselves. 



