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countries of old, as they still are in some uncivilized parts of the 

 ■world, where Christianity has not yet found its way. What now 

 followed on the introduction of the true religion 1 Though the 

 pagan deities were given up, there was still a looking towards and 

 a leaning upon those who seemed to stand out as holier and more 

 exalted personages than ordinary mortals. The honours that had 

 been paid to pagan gods and goddesses were now paid to saints and 

 martyrs, both men and women. It rested with these to intercede 

 in behalf of all who needed anything. They were appealed to as 

 advocates to bring down blessings and avert judgments. Every- 

 thing in nature calculated to excite attention — by its beauty, its 

 novelty, its strangeness of appearance, or its supposed good and 

 useful properties — was thought to be mixed up in some mysterious 

 way with their agency. The more striking natural phenomena of 

 course came in for a large share of their supposed influence — 

 weather changes amongst other things. And as particular states 

 of weather often recurred periodically, if any marked change 

 happened to coincide, or nearly to coincide in a few instances, with 

 the day dedicated to a particuhir Saint, the two events were 

 thought to be connected, and the Saint had the credit of bringing 

 about the change. Thus wet and dry periods came to be dated 

 from festivals bearing the names of Saints, and in the case of some 

 festivals that occurred early in the year, the whole year was 

 expected to take its character according as the weather was fine or 

 otherwise on the particular day set apart for their commemoration. 

 This idea took a firmer hold of men's minds through the help of 

 some of those legends which abound in the early histories of 

 Christian Saints. Able remarks on this head are made by our 

 valuable member, Mr. Earle, in his " Life of Swithin," when 

 epeaking of the forty days' rain associated with the name of that 

 particular Saint, to which I shall have to draw attention presently. 

 He says, " the real origin (of it) appears to have been the 

 habit of attaching to the Saints of Christendom any remnants of 

 traditional and mythological lore, which by the extinction of 

 heathendom had lost their centre and principle of cohesion, and 

 were drifting about in search of new connections."* 

 * Legends of Saint Swithin, p. 53. 



