It may be observed that in both the above descriptions of similar phenomena the East wind is recorded as bringing up the storm. There is something very remarkably unwholesome in East winds, and a change to that quarter often disturbs the nervous system and digestive organs of many persons, causing headaches, fevers, and other disorders. Moreover, a good astronomical observation cannot be made when the wind is East: the star seems to oscillate or dance about in the field of the telescope. An old proverb says: When the wind is in the East 'Tis neither good for Man nor Beast. St. Fabian. St. Sebastian. St. Fechin. January 20. St. Fabian. enters the nominal sign O declinat. South 20°, 10'. 56". John Howard the Reformer died in 1790. St. Fabian, celebrated today, succeeded St. Anterus in 236 as Pontifex. He died a martyr in the persecution of Decius in 250. Sometimes calm warm and dark weather occurs at this time and is of some continuance. It is well characterized by Mr. White, of Selborne, in the following verses: On the dark still dry warm Weather occasionally happening TH' imprisoned winds slumber within their caves All nature nodding seems composed: thick steams Push'd by the weightier atmosphere, up springs While high in air, and poised upon his wings The ploughman inly smiles to see upturn *The Barometer. The happy boy now brings transported forth Not so the museful sage:-abroad he walks What cause controls the tempest's rage, or whence For days, for weeks, prevails the placid calm. This evening being the Vigil of St. Agnes, it used to be customary with Virgins to use many charms in order to dream of the man they should marry, to which Ben Jonson alludes: And on sweet St. Agnes' night, Ah! bitter chill it was! The Owl, for all his feathers, was acold; The Hare limped trembling through the frozen grass, Numb were the Beadsman's fingers, while he told Like pious incense from a censer old, Seemed taking flight for Heaven, without a death, Past the sweet Virgin's picture while his prayer he saith. The precautions to be observed by the fair Madeline differ somewhat from those just mentioned, and are thus enumerated: They told her how, upon St. Agnes' Eve, Nor look behind, nor sideways, but require Of heaven with upward eyes for all that they desire. A casement high and triple arched there was, Of fruits and flowers, and bunches of knot grass, As are the tiger moth's deep damasked wings; A shielded scutcheon blushed with blood of queens and kings. Full on this casement shone the wintry moon, Soon, trembling in her soft and chilly nest, January 21. St. Agnes, V. M. St. Vivian. rises at VII. 45'. sets IV. 15'. The Pleiades or Seven Stars pass Meridian at vi. 33'. St. Agnes was a Roman Virgin, who suffered martyrdom in the tenth persecution of the Emperor Dioclesian in the year 306. The images of this Saint are represented with a Lamb, in consequence of the appearance of a white Lamb by her side in the Vision of her, which was presented to her parents after her death. The following lines of Barnaby Googe seem to relate to some religious ceremony on this day: For in St. Agnes' church this day, the while the Mass they sing, Two Lambs as white as suow the Nuns do yearly use to bring. In the Missale ad usum sacrum we find the following notice of St. Agnes:- Haec est Virgo sapiens quam Dominus vigilantem invenit. Verses on St. Agnes' Shrine. WHERE each pretty Balamb most gayly appears, On gold fringed cushions they're stretched out to eat, Yet to me they seem crying, Alack, and alas! What's all this white dainask to daisies and grass! Then they're brought to the Pope, and with transport they're kissed, And receive consecration from sanctity's fist: To chaste Nuns he consigns them, instead of their dams, And orders the Friars to keep them from rams. January 22. ST. VINCENT, M. St. Anastasius, M. St. Vincent was esteemed a most glorious martyr, as he actually seemed to glory in his sufferings. He was born at Ossa in Granada, and was barbarously destroyed by order of the Emperors Dioclesian and Maximian in the year 304. There is an ancient admonition to note down whether or no the Sun shine on St. Vincent's Day: Vincenti festo si sol radiet memor esto. Remember on St. Vincent's Day If that the Sun his Beams display. The particular origin of this command is unknown, but it may probably be from an idea that the Sun would not shine unominously on that day on which the martyrdom of the Saint was so inhumanly finished by burning. Our Poet Lord Byron was born on St. Vincent's Day 1788. We select the following specimen of this author's turn of mind: : Inscription on the Monument of a Newfoundland Dog. WHEN Some proud son of man returns to earth, The Sculptor's art exhausts the pomp of woe, Not what he was, but what he should have been: Who knows thee well must quit thee with disgust, Thy love is lust, thy friendship all a cheat, By nature vile, ennobled but by name, Each kindred brute might bid thee blush for shame. Ye! who perchance behold this simple urn, Pass on-it honours none you wish to mourn: Newstead Abbey, Oct. 30, 1808. January 23. St. Emerentia, V. M. St. Eusebius. Lyra occidit.-Rom. Cal. Hilary term begins. William Pitt died in 1806. Winter Scenes, written in January 1820. By John Mayne. Stern Winter in its bitterest form! Long, cheerless nights, and murky days! What numbers weep, what numbers mourn! And great, from Heaven, shall be your meed! Poor Robin observes of this month: Now sharpnosed Janus, with his frozen face, Congeales the moist Aquarius into ice: Eat, drink, and smoke, clothe well, and keep good Fires, Sing Songs, and drink from spicy wassail Bowl; Put by Care's tenfold miseries to hereafter, And with quaint Momus crack your sides with laughter. January 24. St. Timothy. St. Cadoc. St. Macedonius. Sementinae feriae.—Rom. Cal. The weather is commonly hard about this time. The wild quadrupeds are driven from their accustomed remote haunts. Hares enter the gardens to browze on the cultivated vegetables; and leaving their tracks in the snow, are frequently hunted down, or caught in snares; and the hen roosts are pillaged by foxes. |