[The present rural address to the saint, as still heard in Durham, is as follows: -- "Fair Saint Agnes, play thy part, And send to me my own sweetheart, A curious old chap-book, called Mother Bunch's Closet newly Broke Open, has several notices of the St. Agnes divination: "On that day thou must be sure that no man salute thee, nor kiss thee; I mean neither man, woman, nor child, must kiss thy lips on that day; and then, at night, before thou goest into thy bed, thou must be sure to put on a clean shift, and the best thou hast, then the better thou mayst speed. And when thou liest down, lay thy right hand under thy head, saying these words, Now the god of Love send me my desire; make sure to sleep as soon as thou canst, and thou shalt be sure to dream of him who shall be thy husband, and see him stand before thee, and thou wilt take great notice of him and his complexion, and, if he offers to salute thee, do not deny him." And again, in the same tract, "There is, in January, a day called Saint Agnes' Day. It is always the one and twentieth of that month. This Saint Agnes had a great favour for young men and maids, and will bring unto their bedside, at night, their sweethearts, if they follow this rule as I shall declare unto thee. Upon this day thou must be sure to keep a true fast, for thou must not eat or drink all that day, nor at night; neither let any man, woman, or child kiss thee that day; and thou must be sure, at night, when thou goest to bed, to put on a clean shift, and the best thou hast the better thou mayst speed; and thou must have clean cloaths on thy head, for St. Agnes does love to see clean cloaths when she comes; and when thou liest down on thy back as streight as thou canst, and both thy hands are laid underneath thy head, then say,— Now, good St. Agnes, play thy part, And then be sure to fall asleep as soon as thou canst, and before thou awakest out of thy first sleep thou shalt see him come and stand before thee, and thou shalt perceive by his habit what tradesman he is; but be sure thou declarest not thy dream to anybody in ten days, and by that time thou mayst come to see thy dream come to pass.' Mr. Hone has preserved a curious charm for the ague, which is said to be only efficacious on St. Agnes's Eve. It is to be said up the chimney by the eldest female in the family: "Tremble and go First day shiver and burn Tremble and quake! Second day shiver and learn; Third day never return."] ST. VINCENT'S DAY. JANUARY 22. MR. DOUCE's manuscript notes say, "Vincenti festo si Sol radiet memor esto;" thus Englished by Abraham Fleming: "Remember on St. Vincent's Day, If that the sun his beams display." Scott's Discov. of Witchcraft, b. xi. c. 15. [Dr. Foster is at a loss to account for the origin of the command; but he thinks it may have been derived from a notion that the sun would not shine unominously on the day on which the saint was burnt.] ST. PAUL'S DAY. JANUARY 25. I Do not find that any one has even hazarded a conjecture why prognostications of the weather, &c., for the whole year, are to be drawn from the appearance of this day.1 دو Lloyd, in his Diall of Daies, observes on St. Paul's, that "of this day the husbandmen prognosticate the whole year: if it be a fair day, it will be a pleasant year; if it be windy, there will be wars; if it be cloudy, it doth foreshow the plague that year." In the ancient calendar quoted below,2 I find an observation on the thirteenth of December, “That on this day prognostications of the months were drawn for the whole year." -" Prognostica mensium per totum annum.” In the Shepherd's Almanack for 1676, among the observations on the month of January we find the following: "Some say that, if on the 12th of January the sun shines, it foreshows much wind. Others predict by St. Paul's Day; saying, if the sun shine, it betokens a good year; if it rain or snow, indifferent; if misty, it predicts great dearth; if it thunder, great winds and death of people that year."" Hospinian, also, tells us that it is a critical day with the vulgar, indicating, if it be clear, abundance of fruits; if windy, foretelling wars; if cloudy, the pestilence; if rainy or snowy, it prognosticates dearness and scarcity: according to the old Latin verses, thus translated in Bourne's Antiquities of the Common People : 1 In an ancient calendar of the Church of Rome, which will frequently be quoted in the course of this work, it is called Dies Egyptiacus. 2 [This curious calen daralso contains the following very singular notice for the 24th of January, the vigil of St. Paul's Day, Viri cum uxoribus non cubant.] 3 Thomas Lodge, in his most rare work, entitled 'Wit's Miserie, and the World's Madnesse, discovering the Devils Incarnat of this Age,' 4to. Lond. 1596, glances in the following quaint manner at the superstitions of this and St. Peter's Day, p. 12," And by S. Peter and S. Paule the fool rideth him." "If St. Paul's Day be fair and clear, If blustering winds do blow aloft, Then wars will trouble our realm full oft; Then will be dear all sorts of grain." The Latin is given differently in Hearne's edition of Robert of Avesbury's History of Edward III., p. 266: "Clara dies Pauli bona tempora denotat anni. Thus translated (ibid.) under the title of "The Saying of Erra Pater to the Husbandman :" "If the day of St. Paule be cleere, Warres shall vex this realme full oft: And if the cloudes make dark the skie, Both neate and fowle this yeare shall die."2 And in a MS. Register of Spalding, transcribed in Cole's MSS., vol. 44, Brit. Mus. "Clara dies Pauli bona tempora denotat anni; Si fiant nebulæ, periant animalia quæque." 2 Among Bagford's fragments of books preserved with the Harleian MSS. in the British Museum, No. 5937, are several pieces of an almanack in French, printed at Basle, in 1672. These lines occur in one upon St. Paul's Day: "De Sainct Paul la claire journée Nous denote une bonne année; "Some Willsford, in his Nature's Secrets, p. 145, tells us, observe the 25th day of January, celebrated for the conversion of St. Paul; if fair and clear, plenty; if cloudy or misty, much cattle will die: if rain or snow fall that day, it presages a dearth; and if windy, wars; as old wives do dream." He gives the verses as follow: "If St. Paul's Day be fair and clear, It does betide a happy year; Then wars shall vex the kingdome oft." He farther informs us, that "Others observe the twelve days of Christmas, to foreshow the weather in all the twelve succeeding moneths respectively." A pleasant writer in the World, No. 10 (I believe the late Lord Orford), speaking on the alteration of the style, observes, "Who that hears the following verses, but must grieve for the shepherd and husbandman, who may have all their prognostics confounded, and be at a loss to know beforehand the fate of their markets? Antient sages sung "If St. Paul be fair and clear,' &c." Bishop Hall, in his Characters of Virtues and Vices, speaking of the superstitious man, observes that "Saint Paules Day and Saint Swithines, with the Twelve, are his oracles, which he dares believe against the almanacke." The prognostications on St. Paul's Day are thus elegantly modernized by Gay, in his Trivia :— "All superstition from thy breast repel, Let cred❜lous boys and prattling nurses tell He concludes, "Let no such vulgar tales debase thy mind, Nor Paul nor Swithin rule the clouds and wind." |