162 Prognostics of the Weather. 



Mr. Worlidge's Signs of Rain are the following. 



"THE audibility of sound is a certain prognostic of the 

 temper of the air in a still evening ; for if the air is replete 

 with moisture over us, it depresses sounds, so that they be- 

 come audible to a greater distance than when the air is free 

 from such moisture and vapours. From whence you may 

 conclude, that in such nights, or other times, when you hear 

 the sound of bells, noise of water, beasts, birds, or any other 

 sounds or noises, more plainly than at any other times, the 

 air is inclinable to rain, which commonly succeeds. 



" If the earth, or any moist or fenny places, yield any 

 extraordinary scents or smells, it presages rain. 



" If dews lie long in the morning on the grass, &c. it sig- 

 nifies fair weather ; but if they rise or vanish suddenly, and 

 early in the morning, it presages rain. 



" There is a small bird, of the size and nearly the shape 

 of a martin, that at certain times flies very near the water, 

 which is a most sure sign of tempestuous weather ; never 

 appearing but before such weather, as hath been constantly 

 observed by the boatmen on the Severn and the Channel 

 between the Isle of Wight and the main -land. 



"Ducks and geese picking their wings, washing them- 

 selves much, or cackling much, denote rain. 



" If after rain comes a cold wind, there will be more 

 rain." 



" The nightly virgin, whilst her wheel she plies, 

 Foresees the storm impending in the skies, 

 When sparkling lamps their splutt'ring light advance, 

 And in their sockets oily bubbles dance." 



DRYDEN'S Virgil. 



More Prognostics from the Wind. 



14th RULE. When the wind turns to north-east, and it 

 continues there two days without rain, and does not turn 

 south the third day, nor rain the third day, it is likely to 

 continue north-east for eight or nine days all fair, and then 

 to come south again. 



