THE closing night of the Christmas season is observed by every nation in
Europe, except Switzerland, in which country the Republican form of
government introduced by W. TELL (the first President), prevents the
recognition of Kings and Queens.
Throughout England, particularly in those rural districts where the
study of physics is yet in its infancy, great importance is attached to
the weather on Twelfth Day. The occurrence of rain, or wind, or sleet,
or snow, or hail, or the appearance of the Aurora Borealis over the
roofs of the Bank of England is considered a most favourable augury, and
in some counties determines the day on which the sowing of the Spring
wheat commences. But the slightest indication of the Zodiacal light is
dreaded as a sure forerunner of the turnip-fly, and the connection of a
parhelion with protracted drought is established by a long series of
observations, reaching as far back as the Reformation.
Most lawyers are of opinion that under the provisions of an old Act of
Parliament, still unrepealed, it is illegal to solicit a Christmas box
after twelve o'clock on the 6th of January.
If Twelfth Night falls on a Sunday, the harvest will be late; if on a
Monday, the back door should be carefully looked to on the long
evenings; if on a Tuesday, pilchards will be caught in enormous
quantities; if on a Wednesday, the silkworms will suffer; if on a
Thursday, there will be no skating on the Serpentine during the rest of
the year; if on a Friday, the apple crop will be a failure; and if on a
Saturday (as this year), you should on no account have your hair cut by
a red-haired man who squints and has relations in the colonies. The
sceptic and the latitudinarian may smile superciliously at these
predictions, but they have been verified by inquiries conducted at
centres as wide apart as Bury St. Edmunds, Rotherham, Dawlish,
Rickmansworth, Kirkcudbright, and Cape Clear.
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CHRISTMAS PRESENT FOR SIR CHARLES DILKE.--Packet of Court Plaster and
some Household Bread.
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