By the Rev. A. C. Smith. 



43 



we are, to such a variety of changes in the state of the atmosphere, 

 and these changes so constantly recurring, far more frequently in- 

 deed than in continental districts, as very slight consideration of 

 the principles of atmospheric variation at once demonstrates to be 

 necessarily the case ; the state of the weather is really a subject of 

 paramount importance to us ; and while a cold damp raw day is a 

 fair subject of condolence, a bright warm sunny day is unquestionably 

 a legitimate subject of congratulation. 



It is for the same reason, as I imagine, that proverbs on the 

 weather have been so universal in the mouths of our peasantry ; and 

 now that the advance of education is driving away our folk-lore, and 

 the vast accumulation of modern literature is thrusting out of sight 

 the quaint old sayings, generally replete with wisdom and truth, 

 though clad in never so homely a garb, which still linger in our 

 country parishes, it is time for the archaeologist to rescue them from 

 oblivion, and to collect and store up these pithy maxims, the result 

 of patient observation of Nature's prognostics ; and which (I will 

 venture to say), being fouuded on such true principles, are often 

 more to be relied upon than the dicta of the Meteorological Society, 

 with all its delicate and sensitive instruments, its barometers, its 

 wet and dry bulb thermometers, its aneroids and ozonometers to 

 boot : for these may be faulty, and deceive us, but Nature never errs, 

 and if we can but read her aright, spreads out the page with un- 

 deviating accuracy. 



Now the labourer, and above all the shepherd, employed all his 

 life long on our open Wiltshire Downs and fields, has remarkable 

 opportunities for studying the sky, and noting the signs of the 

 seasons; and I have very often been amazed at the accuracy with 

 which he can forecast a change in the weather, when to ordinary 

 eyes not the slightest symptoms of alteration were apparent : but 

 this is an instinct derived from constant observation; and, to a mind not 

 overburdened with many thoughts, has become a habit monopolizing 

 no small part of his attention. It is an instinct too which depends 

 more upon prolonged experience than abstract reasoning ; and it is 

 an instinct shared, though in still larger measure, by many branches 

 of the animal and even the vegetable world, beasts and birds and 



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