Dorset Mlcatljcr Eore* 



By J. S. UDAL, F.S.A. 



T is only to be expected that in a county like 

 Dorset, with a population so largely addicted 

 to agricultural and pastoral pursuits — to say 

 nothing of that part of it employed upon its 

 large extent of sea-board — that signs and 

 portents in any way indicative of what the 

 weather is likely to be, are eagerly looked for 

 and carefully treasured up, resulting in a 

 ■strong belief in those superstitions to which they give 

 rise. 



It is, of course, impossible to say that many of the things 

 that I note in this paper are peculiar to Dorset, or even to 

 the West of England. But if one were only to record such 

 of them as are not known to exist outside the county, and 

 that principle were followed by other county collectors, then 

 very many interesting items of weather lore would remain 

 unchronicled altogether. As with plant and flower lore, so 

 it is obviously impossible that the study of weather lore, if it 

 be at all exhaustive, can be confined within the narrow 

 geographical limits of a county. 



