420 Prognostications 



g;azers; namelj, in the cliiiracter, and 

 above all, tiie number, of its mem- 

 bers. ] It ancient times one was thought 

 sufficient for a parish, and every ham- 

 let possessed its seer skilled in the 

 changes of the seasons, \\ ho acted in 

 his ov/n separate department, and 

 enjoyed its functions as unmolested as 

 llie doctor or the minister. This im- 

 portant office generally devolved upon 

 the oldest inhabifant of llic place, and 

 to his experience did all resort; in 

 cases of doubt, or diflieuKy, his house 

 was Ihe weather-office of the neigh- 

 bourhood, and his countenance, grave 

 or gay as the occasion demanded, was 

 considered as true an index of the 

 clouds or sun-shine that were (o 

 darken or to cheer the day, as the 

 band of the best-construef ed weather- 

 glass. In harvest-time he was the 

 oracle of the village ; and for another 

 to interfere in his decisions, or give an 

 opinion upon the subject, would have 

 been thought alike strange and pre- 

 sumptuous. But alas! it is not so 

 now ; on the contrary, every man that 

 can distinguish a black cloud from a 

 white one, sets up as being weather- 

 wise; and you cannot hint your inten- 

 tion of taking a walk, without being 

 stunned on all sides with contradictory 

 opinions as to what the weather is, has 

 been, or will be, before your return. 

 So numerous are the kind cautions, 

 warnings, and threatenings, bestowed 

 upon the occasion, and so repeatedly 

 are you enjoined "to set ofl' in- 

 stantly, or you will be caught in the 

 rain," or (if it be a (ine spring morn- 

 ing,) " to defer it till the heat of the 

 day be past," that you are eitlier 

 frightened into staying at home, or the 

 time destined for your excursion is 

 past before you can escape. In this 

 case, should a few stray drops of rain 

 chance to fall, or one ray of sunshine be 

 seen, you arc doomed to be congratu- 

 lated upon your disappointment all the 

 rest of the day ; and the " did not I tell 

 you it would rain, &c." is the self- 

 satisfied burden of the song. 



Still, however, it was confined till 

 lately to the inhabitants of the country, 

 where the charms and delights of 

 out-of-door enjoyments made amj)lc 

 amends for the trouble of obtaining 

 them: but, in this age of knowledge, 

 the knowledge of the elements could 

 not be forgotten ; and now, alas ! to the 

 no small annoyance of poor woman- 

 kind, (who arc not allowed to know 



on tfu VVtalher. [June 1, 



any thing of the matter, as It considered 

 far above their slender comprehension,) 

 it equally pervades every situation. 



I was more particularly led to these 

 rellections, by a visit I paid a short 

 time since to a family residing in the 

 centre of a large manufacturing town. 

 The house, though large and commo- 

 dious inside, had not an inch of 

 ground belonging to it, but was closely 

 surrounded on every side by buildings 

 of various dimensions. It vvas situ- 

 ated in a narrow street, which had 

 apparently been built in those times 

 when the art of laying-out a city con- 

 sisted in cramming the greatest possi- 

 ble number of dwellings into the least 

 possible space. The houses on the op- 

 posite side were consequently within 

 a very neighbourly distance, and, were 

 propinquity a certain proof of friend- 

 ship, the whole street was on terms of 

 the most cordial amity. From the 

 windows you obtained a view of the 

 bare blank walls of a manufactory, 

 the chimneys of which constantly 

 emitted volumes of smoke so dense, as 

 to render the light enjoyed in its vici- 

 nity a sort of dusky twilight. In such 

 a situation, " To watch the storm 

 slow gathering from afar," appeared 

 impossible; and here, at least, I 

 thought 1 should enjoy the bliss oif 

 ignorance. Judge then of my sur- 

 prise, when, upon entering the break- 

 fast parlour, I was greeted, not with 

 enquiries after my health, or some plan 

 of engagement for the day, but with a 

 grave debate upon the height of the 

 clouds, the weight of the atmosphere, 

 and the rising and falling of the wea- 

 ther-glass. This important discussion 

 being, however, at length concluded, 

 the engagements for the day were 

 talked of, and a proposal made for a 

 walk to some gardens, about a mile 

 distant ; but no, a shower had been pre- 

 dicted to fall at the hour fixed for our 

 departure, so the scheme was obliged 

 to be given up. It was then proposed 

 to go to an exhibition of paintings then 

 in town ; but this \\ as instantly nega- 

 tived by a declaration, that the sun's 

 rays would there be so powerful as to 

 spoil their effect ; and, in fine, after 

 various plans had been proposctl with 

 equal success, we were at length 

 informed, that we might venture to [lay 

 a call at a house two doors higher up 

 the street, provided we went and 

 returned punctually to the time ap- 

 pointed. 



One 



