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And, better than by Napier's bones,
Feel in their own the age of moons."

Salt.

Salt increases in weight before a shower.

Sea.

The murmuring noise of the waves of the sea, their foaming, and green and black colour, announce a storm.

In the Cambrian Register, 1796, p. 430, we read: "It cannot be denied that the Welsh have much superstition amongst them, though it is wearing off very fast. But the instance adduced here (by the Gleaner), that of their predicting a storm by the roaring of the sea, is a curious kind of proof of their superstition."

Signboards.

"But when the swinging sign your ears offend With creaking noise, then rainy floods impend : Soon shall the kennels swell with rapid streams."Trivia.

Smoke.

If, during calm, smoke does not ascend readily, expect rain.

So the Germans say,

Wenn der Rauch nicht aus dem Schornstein will, So ist vorhanden Regens viel.

Soot.

If soot falls down the chimney, rain will come.

Sounds.

Sounds are heard with unusual clearness before a

storm.

So the Italian proverb, Campan che se sent, O aqua o vent.

Strings.

Strings of catgut or whipcord untwist and become longer during a damp state of the air.

Toothache.

The Milanese say,

Quad el dent el fa de mat

Se l'èsüt vör lass vagnat.

The Florentines,

Quando il tempo è molle,

Il dente si fa folle.

Walls.

When walls are more than usually damp, rain is expected.

So Gay, in his Trivia,

"Church monuments foretell the changing air; Then Niobe dissolves into a tear,

And sweats with secret grief; you'll hear the sounds

Of whistling winds, ere kennels break their bounds."

"So lookes he like a marble toward rayne."-Bishop Hall's Virgidemiarum, Book vi. Sat. 1.

Winds.

GENERAL PROGNOSTICS.

"The hollow winds begin to blow,

Clouds, Barometer.

The clouds look black, the glass is low; Soot, Dogs.

The soot falls down, the spaniels sleep,
Spiders.

And spiders from their cobwebs peep:
Sun.

Last night the sun went pale to bed,
Moon.

The moon in haloes hid her head;
The boding shepherd heaves a sigh,
Rainbow.

For see! a rainbow spans the sky:
Walls, Ditches:

The walls are damp, the ditches smell,

Pimpernel.

Closed is the pink-eyed pimpernel :

Chairs and Tables.

Hark how the chairs and tables crack!

Joints.

Old Betty's joints are on the rack :

Ducks.

Loud quack the ducks, the peacocks cry,

Hills.

The distant hills are looking nigh:

Swine.

How restless are the snorting swine!

Flies.

The busy flies disturb the kine :

Swallow.

Low o'er the grass the swallow wings; Cricket.

The cricket, too, how sharp he sings:
Cat.

Puss on the hearth, with velvet paws,
Sits wiping o'er her whiskered jaws :

Fish.

Through the clear stream the fishes rise, And nimbly catch the incautious flies :

Glowworm.

The glowworms, numerous and bright, Illumed the dewy dell last night:

Toad.

At dusk the squalid toad was seen
Hopping and crawling o'er the green :

Dust.

The whirling dust the wind obeys,
And in the rapid eddy plays:

Frog.

The frog has changed his yellow vest,
And in a russet coat is dressed:

Air.

Though June, the air is cold and still;
Blackbird.

The mellow blackbird's voice is shrill :

Dog.

My dog, so altered in his taste,

Quits mutton-bones on grass to feast;
Rooks.

And see yon rooks, how odd their flight!
They imitate the gliding kite,
And seem precipitate to fall,
As if they felt the piercing ball—
"Twill surely rain-I see with sorrow
Our jaunt must be put off to-morrow."

Wind.

-Dr JENNER.

"For ere the rising winds begin to roar,

Sea.

The working seas advance to wash the shore;

Trees.

Soft whispers run along the leafy woods,

Mountains.

And mountains whistle to the murmuring floods.

Waves.

E'en then the doubtful billows scarce abstain From the tossed vessel on the troubled main ;

Cormorants.

When crying cormorants forsake the sea,

And, stretching to the covert, wing their way;

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