Show VULGAR ASTROLOGY A very popular idea is that the weather changes with tbe moon quarters although of course there is i no truth in this piece of vulgar astrol ogy That educated people as Dr Taylor has truly pointed out to whom exact weather records are accessible should etill find satisfaction in this fanciful lunar rule is i an interesting casts of intellectual survival Yet however the fact remains and in every day Ufa one of tbe moat frequent remarks appertaining to wet weather is > that it will no doubt change with the moon In many part of the country great attention is paid to the day ol tba week on which the chame of tbe moon occur Thus if the moon change on a Sunday we are told there will be a flood before the month is out whereas a new moon on a Monday ii i nearly everywhere welcomed as being a certain omen not only for fair weather but good luck A change however on Saturday is universally regarded as a bad sign and numerous proverbs to this effect are found scattered scat-tered here and there in moat parts of England as well as Scotland Some of the most prevalent are the following A Saturdays change and aSundaya full moon Once lu I seven years is once too loon In Norfolk the peasantry eay Saturday new and Sunday full Never was good and never wull The tame notbn exists on the Continent Wednesday in Italy and Friday in the south of France being regarded as unfavorable days for a change of the moon At Whitby for instance when the moon is surrounded surroun-ded by a halo of watery clouds he seamen say there will be a change of weather for the II moondogs are about This halo is called in Scotland broogh the early Teutonic word for circle as in the following rhyme About the moon there is a brough The weather will be cauld and rough A pale moon too is equally unfavorable unfavor-able a piece of weather lore to which Shakespeare alludes in the If Midsummer Midsum-mer Nights Dream Aot 11 So 2 Therefore the moon the governess of floods Pale in her sneer washes all the air That rheumatic dLeasecs do abound When the moons horns appear 10 point upwards it is eaid to loot lit0 boat and in many parts there io 4 idea that when it is thus eituaUu there will be no rain a superstition which George Eliot describes in Adam Bebe II It ud ha been better bet-ter luck if theyd ha buried him i the forenoon when the rain was fallin theres no likelihood of a drop now An the moon lies like a boat there Thats a sure sign of fair weather According toeailora when the moon is in this position it denotes fine weather for louse their phrase you might bang your hat on it In Liverpool Liver-pool however it is considered a sign oi foul weather as the moon is now considered to ba like a basin full of water about to fall Tne Bcotiah provero expressive ol the same proverb prov-erb inculcates the following admonition admo-nition The honey moon is on her back Mend your shoes and sort thick Whenever a largo planet or large star is seen near tbe moon it is said by seafaring men to prognosticate boisterous weather for to make use of their term A big star ia dogging themoon Some years ago says a correspondent of Notes and Queries Quer-ies a fisherman ofTorquay told me after a violent gale that he had for seen the storm as he had observed one star ahead of the moon towing her and another astern chasing her Many other superstitious fanoies are associated with the moons supposed sup-posed influences on the weather varying oi course in different localities local-ities Thus a clear moon is generally gener-ally supposed to augur bright weather in Summer and frost in winter One proverb tells us If the moon shows a silver shield Be not afraid to reap your field But if she rises haloed round Soon well tread on deluged ground In winter time according to a popular pop-ular adage Clear moon frost soon Home Journal |