P. S. I am told the sight of the postmen in their scarlet coats is not
bearable in London; they look _red_-hot.
_Weather._
Duncomb, for many years the principal vender of Dunstable larks, resided
at the village of Haughton-Regis, near Dunstable. He was an eccentric
character, and, according to Dunno’s “Originals,” (himself an
“original”) he was “remarkable for his humorous and droll method of
rhyming.” The following lines are shrewd and pleasant:--
_Duncomb’s Answer in Hay-time relating to the Weather._
Well, Duncomb, how will be the weather?
Sir, it looks cloudy altogether.
And coming ’cross our Houghton Green,
I stopp’d and talk’d with old Frank Beane.
While we stood there, sir, old Jan Swain,
Went by and said, he know’d ’twood rain.
The next that came was Master Hunt,
And he declar’d, he knew it wont.
And then I met with farmer Blow,
He told me plainly he di’nt know.
So, sir, when doctors disagree
Who’s to decide it, you or me?
_Dunstable Larks._
The larks which are caught at Dunstable are unequalled for their size
and richness of flavour. Their superiority is said to be owing in a
great measure to the chalky soil. On their first arrival they are very
lean and weak, but they recover in a short time, and are braced and
fattened by picking considerable quantities of the finest particles of
chalk with their food. They are usually taken in great quantities, with
trammelling nets, on evenings and mornings from Michaelmas to February.
When dressed and served up at some of the inns in the town, “in great
perfection, by a peculiar and secret method in the process of cooking
them,” they are admired as a luxury by travellers during the time they
are in season; and by an ingenious contrivance in their package, they
are sent ready dressed to all parts of England.
[209] Shrewsbury Chronicle.
[210] The Times, March 31, 1824.
~July 15.~
_St. Henry_ II., Emperor, A. D. 1024. _St. Plechelm_, A. D. 714. _St.
Swithin_, Bp. A. D. 862.
_Swithin_ is still retained on this day in our almanacs, and at some
public offices is a holiday.
_St. Swithin._
He was of noble parentage, and also called Swithun, or in the Saxon
language Swithum. He received the tonsure in the church at Winchester,
and became a monk in the old monastery there, of which, after being
ordained priest, he was made provost or dean. He studied grammar,
philosophy, and theology. For his learning and virtue, Egbert, king of
England, appointed him his priest, in which character he subscribed a
charter to the abbey of Croyland, in 833. Egbert also committed to him
the education of his son Ethelwolf, who on succeeding to the throne
procured Swithin to be chosen bishop of Winchester in 852.
Tithes were established in England through St. Swithin, who prevailed on
Ethelwolf to enact a law, by which he gave the tenth of the land to the
church, on condition that the king should have a prayer said for his
soul every Wednesday in all the churches for ever. Ethelwolf solemnized
the grant by laying the charter on the altar of St. Peter at Rome, in a
pilgrimage he made to that city, and by procuring the pope to confirm
it.
St. Swithin died on the 2d of July, 862, in the reign of king Ethelbert,
and he was buried, according to his own order, in the churchyard. Alban
Butler, from whom these particulars are related, affirms the translation
of his relics into the church a hundred years afterwards, and refers to
the monkish historians for the relation of “such a number of miraculous
cures of all kinds wrought by them, as was never known in any other
place.” His relics were afterwards removed into the cathedral of
Winchester, on its being built under William the Conqueror. It was
dedicated to the Holy Trinity, under the patronage of St. Peter,
afterwards to St. Swithin, in 980, and was called St. Swithin’s until
Henry VIII. ordered it to be called by the name of the Holy Trinity.
Among the notable miracles alleged to have been worked by St. Swithin is
this, that after he had built the bridge at Winchester, a woman came
over it with her lap full of eggs, which a rude fellow broke, but the
woman showed the eggs to the saint, who was passing at the time, and he
lifted up his hand and blessed the eggs, “and they were made hole and
sounde.” To this may be added another story; that when his body was
translated, or removed, two rings of iron, fastened on his grave-stone,
came out as soon as they were touched, and left no mark of their place
in the stone; but when the stone was taken up, and touched by the rings,
they of themselves fastened to it again.[211]
~St. Swithin’s Day.~
“If it rains on St. Swithin’s day, there will be rain the next forty
days afterwards.” The occasion of this old and well-known saying is
obscure. In Mr. Douce’s interleaved copy of Brand’s “Popular
Antiquities,” there is a printed statement “seemingly cut out of a
newspaper” cited, in the last edition of Mr. Brand’s work, thus:--“In
the year 865, St. Swithin, bishop of Winchester, to which rank he was
raised by king Ethelwolfe, the dane, dying, was canonized by the then
pope. He was singular for his desire to be buried in the open
church-yard, and not in the chancel of the minster, as was usual with
other bishops, which request was complied with; but the monks, on his
being canonized, taking it into their heads that it was disgraceful for
the saint to lie in the open church-yard, resolved to remove his body
into the choir, which was to have been done with solemn procession on
the 15th of July. It rained, however, so violently on that day, and for
forty days succeeding, as had hardly ever been known, which made them
set aside their design as heretical and blasphemous: and, instead, they
erected a chapel over his grave, at which many miracles are said to have
been wrought.”
Also in “Poor Robin’s Almanac” for 1697, the saying, together with one
of the miracles before related, is noticed in these lines:--
“In this month is St. Swithin’s day;
On which, if that it rain, they say
Full forty days after it will,
Or more or less, some rain distill.
This Swithin was a saint, I trow,
And Winchester’s bishop also.
Who in his time did many a feat,
As popish legends do repeat:
A woman having broke her eggs
By stumbling at another’s legs,
For which she made a woful cry
St. Swithin chanc’d for to come by,
Who made them all as sound, or more
Than ever that they were before.
But whether this were so or no
’Tis more than you or I do know:
Better it is to rise betime,
And to make hay while sun doth shine,
Than to believe in tales and lies
Which idle monks and friars devise.”
The satirical Churchill also mentions the superstitious notions
concerning rain on this day:--
“July, to whom, the dog-star in her train,
St. James gives oisters, and St. Swithin rain.”
The same legend is recorded by Mr. Brand, from a memorandum by Mr.
Douce: “I have heard these lines upon St. Swithin’s day:--
“St. Swithin’s day if thou dost rain,
For forty days it will remain:
St. Swithin’s day if thou be fair
For forty days ’t will rain na mair.”
* * * * *
Ben Jonson, in “Every man out of his humour,” has a touch at
almanac-wisdom, and on St. Swithin’s power over the weather:--
“Enter _Sordido_, _Macilente_, _Hine_.
“_Sord._--(_looking at an almanac_)--O rare! good, good, good, good,
good! I thank my stars, I thank my stars for it.
“_Maci._--(_aside_)--Said I not true, ’tis Sordido, the farmer,
A boar, and brother, to that swine was here.
“_Sord._ Excellent, excellent, excellent! as I could wish, as I could
wish!--Ha, ha, ha! I will not sow my grounds this year. Let me see what
harvest shall we have? _June_, _July_, _August_?
“_Maci._--(_aside_)--What is’t, a prognostication raps him so?
“_Sord._--(_reading_)--The xx, xxi, xxii days, Rain and Wind; O good,
good! the xxiii and xxiv Rain and some Wind: the xxv, Rain, good still!
xxvi, xxvii, xxviii, wind and some rain; would it had been rain and some
wind; well, ’tis good (when it can be no better;) xxix inclining to
rain: inclining to rain? that’s not so good now: xxx and xxxi wind and
no rain: no rain? ’Slid stay; this is worse and worse: what says he of
Saint _Swithin’s_? turn back, look, Saint _Swithin’s_: no rain?--O,
here, Saint _Swithin’s_, the XV day; variable weather, for the most part
rain, good; for the most part rain: why, it should rain forty days
after, now, more or less, it was a rule held, afore I was able to hold a
plough, and yet here are two days no rain; ha! it makes me muse.”
* * * * *
Gay, whilst he admonishes against falling into the vulgar superstition,
reminds his readers of necessary precautions in a wet season, which make
us smile, who forbear from hats to loop and unloop, and do not wear
wigs:--
Now, if on Swithin’s feast the welkin lours,
And every penthouse streams with hasty showers,
Twice twenty days shall clouds their fleeces drain
And wash the pavements with incessant rain.
Let not such vulgar tales debase thy mind;
Nor Paul nor Swithin rule the clouds and wind
If you the precepts of the Muse despise,
And slight the faithful warning of the skies,
Others you’ll see, when all the town’s afloat,
Wrapt in the embraces of a kersey coat,
Or double bottomed frieze; their guarded feet
Defy the muddy dangers of the street;
While you, with hat unlooped, the fury dread
Of spouts high streaming, and with cautious tread
Shun every dashing pool, or idly stop,
To seek the kind protection of a shop.
But business summons; now with hasty scud
You jostle for the wall; the spattered mud
Hides all thy hose behind; in vain you scour
Thy wig, alas! uncurled, admits the shower.
So fierce Electo’s snaky tresses fell,
When Orpheus charmed the rigorous powers of hell;
Or thus hung Glaucus’ beard, with briny dew
Clotted and straight, when first his amorous view
Surprised the bathing fair; the frighted maid
Now stands a rock, transformed by Circe’s aid.
Dr. Forster, in his “Perennial Calendar,” cites from Mr. Howard’s work
on the climate of London the following--
“_Examination of the popular Adage of ‘Forty Days’ Rain after St.
Swithin’ how far it may be founded in fact._”
The opinion of the people on subjects connected with natural history is
commonly founded in some degree on fact or experience; though in this
case vague and inconsistent conclusions are too frequently drawn from
real premises. The notion commonly entertained on this subject, if put
strictly to the test of experience _at any one station_ in this part of
the island, will be found fallacious. To do justice to popular
observation, I may now state, that in a majority of our summers, a
showery period, which, with some latitude as to time and local
circumstances, may be admitted to constitute daily rain for forty days,
does come on about the time indicated by this tradition: not that any
long space before is often so dry as to mark distinctly its
commencement.
The tradition, it seems, took origin from the following circumstances.
Swithin or Swithum, bishop of Winchester, who died in 868, desired that
he might be buried in the open churchyard, and not in the chancel of the
minster, as was usual with other bishops, and his request was complied
with; but the monks, on his being canonized, considering it disgraceful
for the saint to lie in a public cemetery, resolved to remove his body
into the choir, which was to have been done with solemn procession, on
the 15th of July: it rained, however, so violently for forty days
together at this season, that the design was abandoned. Now, without
entering into the case of the bishop, who was probably a man of sense,
and wished to set the example of a more wholesome, as well as a more
humble, mode of resigning the perishable clay to the destructive
elements, I may observe, that the fact of the hinderance of the ceremony
by the cause related is sufficiently authenticated by tradition; and
the tradition is so far valuable, as it proves that the summers in this
southern part of our island were subject a thousand years ago to
occasional heavy rains, in the same way as at present. Let us see how,
in point of fact, the matter now stands.
In 1807, it rained with us on the day in question, and a dry time
followed. In 1808, it again rained on this day, though but a few drops:
there was much lightning in the west at night, yet it was nearly dry to
the close of the lunar period, at the new moon, on the 22d of this
month, the whole period having yielded only a quarter of an inch of
rain; but the next moon was very wet, and there fell 5·10 inches of
rain.
In 1818 and 1819, it was dry on the 15th, and a very dry time in each
case followed. The remainder of the summers occurring betwixt 1807 and
1819, appear to come under the general proposition already advanced: but
it must be observed, that in 1816, the wettest year of the series, the
solstitial abundance of rain belongs to the lunar period, ending, with
the moon’s approach to the third quarter, on the 16th of the seventh
month; in which period there fell 5·13 inches, while the ensuing period,
which falls wholly within the forty days, though it had rain on
twenty-five out of thirty days, gave only 2·41 inches.
I have paid no regard to the change effected in the relative position of
this so much noted day by the reformation of the calendar, because
common observation is now directed to the day as we find it in the
almanac; nor would this piece of accuracy, without greater certainty as
to a definite commencement of this showery period in former times, have
helped us to more conclusive reasoning on the subject.
_Solstitial and Equinoctial Rains._--Our year, then, in respect of
quantities of rain, exhibits a dry and a wet moiety. The latter again
divides itself into two periods distinctly marked. The first period is
that which connects itself with the popular opinion we have been
discussing. It may be said on the whole, to set in with the decline of
the diurnal mean temperature, the maximum of which, we may recollect,
has been shown to follow the summer solstice at such an interval as to
fall between the 12th and 25th of the month called July. Now the 15th of
that month, or Swithin’s day in the old style, corresponds to the 26th
in the new; so that common observation has long since settled the limits
of the effect, without being sensible of its real causes. The operation
of this cause being continued usually through great part of the eighth
month, the rain of this month exceeds the mean by about as much as that
of the ninth falls below it.
* * * * *
As regards St. Swithin and his day, it may be observed, that according
to bishop Hall when Swithin died, he directed that “his body should not
be laid within the church, but where the drops of rain might wet his
grave; thinking that no vault was so good to cover his grave as that of
heaven.” This is scarcely an exposition of the old saying, which, like
other old sayings, still has its votaries. It is yet common on this day
to say, “Ah! this is St. Swithin; I wonder whether it will rain?” An old
lady who so far observed this festival, on one occasion when it was fair
and sunshiny till the afternoon, predicted fair weather; but tea-time
came, and--
“there follow’d some droppings of rain.”
This was quite enough. “Ah!” said she, “now we shall have rain every day
for forty days;” nor would she be persuaded of the contrary. Forty days
of our humid climate passed, and many, by their having been perfectly
dry, falsified her prediction. “Nay, nay,” said she, “but there was wet
in the night, depend upon it.” According to such persons St. Swithin
cannot err.
* * * * *
It appears from the parish accounts of Kingston upon Thames, in 1508,
that “any householder kepying a brode gate” was to pay to the parish
priest’s “wages 3d.” with a halfpenny “to the paschall:” this was the
great wax taper in the church; the halfpenny was towards its purchase
and maintaining its light; also he was to give to _St. Swithin_ a
halfpenny. A holder of one tenement paid twopence to the priest’s wages,
a halfpenny to the “paschall;” likewise St. Swithin a halfpenny.
Rain on St. Swithin’s day is noticed in some places by this old saying,
“St. Swithin is christening the apples.”
* * * * *