A HANDBOOK OF WEATHER FOLK-LORE BEING A COLLECTION OF PROVERBIAL SAYINGS IN VARIOUS BY THE REV. C. SWAINSON, M. A. VICAR OF HIGH HURST WOOD WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS EDINBURGH AND LONDON MDCCCLXXIII All Rights reserved PREFACE. Q C 998 59 IT is well known that certain days have been, in various countries, considered as ominous of the ensuing weather. The popular sayings attached to them are of great antiquity, and therefore the alteration of the Calendar has affected them in a material degree; yet still do the peasantry of the Continent consult religiously their critical days; and if a 'Volkskalender' of Germany, Switzerland, or Bohemia were to discontinue giving its "Bauern-" or "Wetter-regelen," there is no doubt that its circulation would be sensibly diminished. So, too, in our own land, each district has its weather proverbs, some peculiar to itself, some, it may be, shared in common with the country folk of France, Germany, and Italy. It is to the superstitious side of weather lore that the reader is directed more particularly in the First Part of the present work; and it may be remarked that special attention has been paid to the weather proverbs attached to the various Saints' days throughout the year. The Second Part contains sayings relating to the sun, moon, stars, and atmospheric influences generally; also many prognostics drawn from the habits of animals, birds, insects, &c. To compile a Handbook of this kind would have been impossible without the aid of previous publications, a list of which is given below. The author is particularly indebted to 'Notes and Queries,' Brand, and Chambers, also to Professor Inwards' excellent book on this subject, and to Mr Denham's curious collection, which, however, contain but very few foreign proverbs. Many of the latter—not, however, in their original language-may be found in Baron von Reinsberg-Düringsfeld's 'Das Wetter im Sprichwort.' |