By the Rev. A. C. Smith, 31. A. 



357 



in " tbe Street," which alone proclaims the ancient custom, threatens 

 to visit us no more ! 



I should scarcely be doing justice to a very important matter if I 

 , omitted to mention the various fairs in the neighbourhood, which 

 serve as epochs, from which our villagers usually date : thus instead 

 of specifying the end of November, they would say " about a fortnight 

 or so after Yatsbury Vee~ast." Other noted landmarks of time 

 are Tanhill fair (August 6th) usually called "Tannul Vair 33 ; Devizes 

 I fair (April 20th) generally known as "Vize Vair^; Calne fair 

 ; (May 6th); and Marlborough fair (August 22nd). 



There is yet another subject which demands attention before I 

 i take leave of the parish, to wit the winds which at times beset us 

 | with more than common violence, as might be conjectured when our 

 j position on the broad open table-land of the downs is considered. 

 J The winds which chiefly prevail here are the south-west, which come 

 : up from the Bristol Channel without let or impediment, and have a 

 i fair fling when they reach our downs. These however are soft- 

 i hearted well-disposed winds, which, however boisterous and rough, 

 j only tumble about the thatch of ricks and cottages in sport, and 

 have no venom in their horse-play. Not so the north-easterly winds, 

 ■ which swoop down upon us in the early spring, and are spiteful in 

 i their attacks, bitter in their blasts, and deadly in their continuance : 

 I man and beast, animal and vegetable, cower under their influence, 

 j and are the worse for their encounter ; and then they often prolong 

 j their visits and refuse to depart, however hateful their presence. It 

 i is owing to these protracted gales from the north-east that our 

 i springs are generally so cold and backward ; though we are com- 

 j pensated in the autumn by a prolongation of warmer weather some 

 > fortnight or more than in less elevated districts : and in the month 

 of October, as you ascend the downs on an evening from the valleys 

 i below, you may often feel a sensible increase of temperature, as you 

 ' mount to the level of our plain. 



>, On the 30th December, 1859, our village was visited by the most 

 I terrific storm of wind I ever heard of in this country : indeed Capt. 



Sherard Osborn declared that in all his experience of typhoons in 

 . China and southern and tropical countries, he never had any idea of 



