Tor-Mohun.
_Pigs said to see the Wind._--In _Hudibras_, Independant says to Presbyter:
"You stole from the beggars all your tones,
And gifted mortifying groans;
Had lights when better eyes were blind,
_As pigs are said to see the wind_."--Pt. 3. c. ii. l. 1105.
That most delightful of editors, Dr. Zachary Grey, with all his
multifarious learning, leaves us here in the lurch for once with a simple
reference to "Hudibras at Court," _Posthumous Works_, p. 213.
Is this phrase merely an hyperbolic way of saying that pigs are very
sharp-sighted, or is it an actual piece of folk-lore expressing a belief
that pies have the privilege of seeing "the viewless wind?" I am inclined
to take the latter view. Under the head of "Superstitions," in Hone's
_Year-Book_ for Feb. 29, 1831, we find:
"Among common sayings at present are these, _that pigs can see the
wind_," &c.