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CHAP. XVIII.

Of St. Paul's Day; The Observation of the Weather, a Custom of the Heathens, and handed down by the Monks: The Apostle St. Paul himself is against such Observations; The Opinion of St. Austin upon them.

THE Observation of the Weather which is made on this Day is altogether ridiculous and superstitious. If it happen to be unclouded and without Rain, it is look'd upon as an Omen of the following Year's Success, if otherwise, that the Year will be unfortunate. Thus the old Verse.

Clara dies Pauli, bona tempora denotat anni, Si fuerint venti, denarrant prælia genti,

Si nix aut pluvia, pereunt animalia

quæque.

The Interpretation of which is very well

known to be this,

If St. Paul's Day be fair and clear,

It doth betide a happy Year;

If blustering Winds do blow aloft

Then Wars will trouble our Realm full oft. And if it chance to Snow or Rain,

Then will be dear all Sorts of Grain.

Such also is the Observation of St. Swithin's Day, which if rainy is a Token that it will rain for forty Days successively; such is the Observation of * Candlemas-Day, such is Childermas-Day, such Valentine's-Day, and some others.

How St. Paul's Day came to have this particular Knack of foretelling the good or evil Fortune of the following year, is no easy is no easy Matter to find out. The Monks who were undoubtedly the first who made this wonderful Observation, have taken Care it should be handed down to Posterity, but why and for what Reason this Observation was to stand good, they have taken Care to conceal. In Church Affairs indeed they make free with handing down Traditions from Generation to Generation, which being approved by an infallible Judgment, are to be taken for granted; but as far as I hear, they never pretended to an infallible Spirit, in the Study of the Planets. One may therefore, without the Suspicion of Heresy, or fear of the Inquisition, make a little Inquiry into this Affair, and see whether it be true or falfe, whether it is built

Si sol splendescat Maria purificante,

Major erit glacies post festum quam fuit ante.

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upon any Reason or no Reason, whether still to be observed, or only laugh'd at as a Monkish Dream.

Now as it is the Day of that Saint, the great Apostle St. Paul, I cannot see there is any Thing to be built upon. He did indeed labour more abundantly than all the Apostles; but never, that I heard, in the Science of Astrology. And why his Day should therefore be a standing Almanack to the World, rather than the Day of any other Saint, will be pretty hard to find out. I am sure there is a good Number of them, have as much right to Rain or fair Weather as St. Paul, and if St. Andrew, St. Thomas, &c. have not as much right to Wind or Snow, let the Reader judge.

As it is the Twenty-fifth Day of January, one would think that could be no Reason. For what is that Day more than another? Indeed they do give some shew of Reason, why Rain should happen about the Time of St. Swithin, which is this. About the Time of his Feast, which is on the Fourteenth of July, there are two rainy Constellations, which are called Præcepe and Asellus, which arise cosmically, and generally produce Rain. And to be

sure

sure in the Course of the Sign Aquarius, there may be both Rain and Wind and fair Weather, but how these can foretell the Destiny of the Year, is the Question.

As then there is nothing in the Saint, cr his Day to prognosticate any such Thing, I mean, as it is the Day of St. Paul, or the Twenty-fifth of January, so I must confess I cannot find out what may be the Ground of this particular Observation. But however thus much is very obvious, that this Observation is an exact Copy of that superstitious Custom among the Heathens, of observing one Day as good, and another as bad. For among them were lucky and unlucky Days; some were dies atri, and some dies albi; the atri were pointed out in their Calendar, with a black Character, the albi with a white; the former to denote it a Day of bad Success, the latter a Day of good. Thus have the Monks in the dark and unlearned ages of Popery copy'd after the Heathens, and dream'd themselves into the like Superstitions, esteeming one Day more successful than another; and so according to them, it is very unlucky to begin any Work upon Childermass-Day; and what Day soever that falls on, whether on a

Munday,

Munday, Tuesday, or any other, nothing must be begun on that Day through the Year; St. Paul's Day is the Year's Fortune-Teller ; St. Mark's Day is the Prognosticator of your Life and Death, &c. and so instead of persuading the People to lay aside the Whims and Fancies of the Heathen World, they brought them so effectually in, that they are still reigning in many Places to this Day.

But of all the Days of the Year, they could not have chosen one so little to the Purpose. For the very Saint, whose Day is so observed, has himself cautioned them against any such Observation For in the Fourth Chapter of his Epistle to the Galatians, he tells them, how dangerous it was to observe Days, and Months, and Times, and Years; which is not, as some would persuade us, to Caution us against the Observation of any Day but the Lord's-Day; but only that we should not observe the abolished Feasts of the Jews, nor the abominable Feasts of the Gentiles, nor their superstitious Observation of fortunate. and unfortunate Days. St. Austin, upon this Place, hath these Words, * Let us not observe Years,

* Non itaque dies observemus, & annos & menses, & tempara, ne audiamus ab apostolo, timeo vos, ne førte sine oausa laboraverim

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