168] A TOPOGRAPHICAL 



its former colour and clearness. Mr. Fowler, the owner, said that 

 he had often been admonished by it in time of harvest to fetch-in 

 his corn. Similar circumstances, we believe, occur upon most 

 standing waters in hot seasons previous to a change of weather, 

 the variation of heat putting the insects, and other creatures prey- 

 ing upon them, in motion : thus, upon the approach of rain in hot 

 weather, ducks and other water-fowl clap their wings, and as it 

 were rejoice, and are busy with their heads under water, which is 

 a symptom of a change of weather. 



" As some pooles and ponds (says Plot) thus foretell rain, so 

 there are other ponds and springs that prognosticate dearth, by 

 rising or overflowing ; such is the Moss-poole near Mearton, in the 

 parish of Forton, not far from Newport ; and Druid-meer, in the 

 parish of Aldridge, the rising or exudation of which being taken 

 for a certain sign of a dearth of corn. But what excels all others 

 in this feat is Hungry-pit, situate in a field below the old fortifica- 

 tion not far from Billington, but in the parish of Seighford, which 

 predicts scarcity by its rise upon sticks set upright in the mud, 

 which people place there for observation, fore-judging the rise or 

 fall of corn in the mercats by the rise or fall of the water on these 

 sticks, and keeping or vending it accordingly ; yet it little re- 

 gards the quality of the weather, overflowing sometimes in 

 droughts, and having nothing in it after falls of rain ; yet these 

 superstitious notions have been profitable to some, who, whether 

 by casualty or not, had thereby advanced their fortunes/' 



These circumstances are less noticed now than in former times, 

 though probably founded on just principles, for dearths of corn in 

 England are most frequently or always the consequence of wet 

 seasons ; and though this spring might not be much affected by a 

 sudden shower, or partial drought, yet it probably follows very ac- 

 curately the general tenor of the season. The cause of springs is 

 doubtless the atmospherical moisture condensing on the summits 

 of hills, which water, thus condensed, descends between the strata 

 of the incumbent soil, till it settles in the earth, or bursts forth on 

 the surface : the whole process is a work of time, and it is only 

 the exuberance of the season that appears in these springs. The 

 Nileometer of Egypt is well known, as foretelling plenty or scar- 

 city by the rise of the Nile ; but their greatest plenty is when 

 water is most abundant, by spreading the farther to fertilize the 

 naturally barren sand. 



Dr. Plot mentions another kind of springs he met with in this 



