Chapter II: Part 2

“On Friday, August 21, 1492, Christopher Columbus sailed on his great voyage of discovery. On Friday, October 12, 1492, he first discovered land. On Friday, January 4, 1493, he sailed on his return to Spain, which, if he had not reached in safety, the happy result would never have been known which led to the settlement on this vast continent. On Friday, March 15, 1493, he arrived at Palos in safety. On Friday, November 22, 1493, he arrived at Hispaniola, in his second voyage to America. On Friday, June 13, 1494, he, though unknown to himself, discovered the continent of America. On Friday, March 5, 1496, Henry VIII. of England gave to John Cabot his commission, which led to the discovery of North America. This is the first American state-paper in England. On Friday, September 7, 1565, Melendez founded St. Augustine, the oldest town in the United States by more than forty years. On Friday, November 10, 1620, the _May-Flower_, with the Pilgrims, made the harbor of Province Town, and on the same day they signed that august compact, the forerunner of our present glorious constitution. On Friday, December 22, 1620, the Pilgrims made their final landing at Plymouth Rock. On Friday, February 22, George Washington, the father of American freedom, was born. On Friday, June 16, Bunker Hill was seized and fortified. On Friday, October 7, 1777, the surrender of Saratoga was made, which had such power and influence in inducing France to declare for our cause. On Friday, September 22, 1780, the treason of Arnold was laid bare, which saved us from destruction. On Friday, October 19, 1781, the surrender at Yorktown, the crowning glory of the American arms, occurred. On Friday, July 7, 1776, the motion in Congress was made by John Adams, seconded by Richard Henry Lee, that the United States colonies were, and of right ought to be, free and independent.”

5. “Nail gifts” are white specks on the finger-nails; which, according to their respective situations, are believed to predict certain events, as indicated in the following couplet, which is repeated whilst touching the thumb and each finger in succession:

A gift, a friend, a foe,
A lover to come, a journey to go.

Sometimes the augury is expressed in positive terms; as,

A gift on the thumb is sure to come:
A gift on the finger is sure to linger.

This mode of prognostication is of long standing. Melton, in his “Astrologaster,” a very old work, giving a catalogue of many superstitious ceremonies, tells us that “to have yellow speckles in the nailes of one’s hands is a greate signe of death.” In Reed’s old plays we read:

“When yellow spots do on your hands appear,
Be certain then you of a corse shall hear.”

6. Sneezing has been held ominous from times of the most remote antiquity.

The comet of 590 was, according to some authors, the occasion of a custom, which is extensively diffused among all the nations of Christendom. In the year of this comet a frightful plague prevailed, which was alleged to be due to its influence. While the malady was at its height, a sneezing was frequently followed by death; whence the saying, _God bless you!_ with which, since that time, sneezers are saluted. St. Austin tells us that “the ancients were wont to go to bed again, if they sneezed while they put on their shoe.” Aristotle says: “Sneezing from noon to midnight was good, but from night to noon unlucky.”

7. The custom of throwing an old shoe for good luck over or after the bride and bridegroom, upon their leaving the church, or the home of the bride, after the wedding, has, of late years, been as it were revived. It is, unquestionably, one of those demonstrations of good wishes which find their way in the commonest modes of expression. But, it is not confined to weddings; the propitiation extends to all prospective views of good fortune.

It is related that an English cattle-dealer desired his wife to “trull her left shoe arter him,” when he started for Norwich to buy a lottery-ticket. As he drove off on his errand, he looked round to see if she practiced the charm, and consequently he received the shoe in his face, with such force as to black his eyes. He went, and bought his ticket, which turned up a prize of £600.

8. The horse-shoe has been, from time immemorial, considered a protection from witchcraft and other ills; and has been nailed at the entrance of dwellings, to prevent the entrance of witches.

Butler, in “Hudibras,” makes his conjurer chase away evil spirits by the horse-shoe; and Gay, in one of his Fables, makes a supposed witch complain:

“The horse-shoe’s nailed, each threshold’s guard.”

Nelson the great English admiral, was of a credulous turn, had great faith in the luck of a horse-shoe, and one was nailed to the mast of the ship _Victory_. “Lucky Dr. James” attributed the success of his fever-powder to his finding a horse-shoe. When a poor apothecary, he was introduced to Newbery, of St. Paul’s church-yard, to vend the medicine for him. One Sunday morning, as James was on his way to Newbery’s country-house at Vauxhall, in passing over Westminster Bridge, seeing a horse-shoe lying in the road, and considering it to be a sign of good luck, he put the shoe into his pocket. As Newbery was a shrewd man, he became James’s agent for the sale of his fever-powder; whilst the doctor ascribed all his success to the horse-shoe, which he subsequently adopted as the crest upon his carriage. (See 62.)

9. Cauls are little membranes found on some children, encompassing the head when born. This is thought a good omen to the child itself, and many believe that whoever obtains it by purchase will be fortunate and escape dangers. The caul is esteemed an infallible preservative against drowning, and is much sought after by sailors.

10. Salt falling toward a person was considered formerly as a very unlucky omen. Something had either already happened to one of the family, or was shortly to befall the persons spilling it. It denotes also the quarreling of friends. It is thought, however, that the evil consequences arising from spilling salt may be averted by throwing a little of the salt over the left shoulder, or immediately eating a _pinch_ of it. In the “British Apollo,” published in London, 1708, we find the following in relation to the superstition:

“We’ll tell you the reason
Why spilling of salt
Is esteemed such a fault;
Because it doth everything season.
The antiques did opine,
’Twas of friendship a sign,
So served it to guests in decorum;
And thought love decayed,
When the negligent maid
Let the saltcellar tumble before them.”

11. The casual putting the left shoe on the right foot, or the right on the left, was thought in old times to be the forerunner of some unlucky accident. Scott, in his “Discovery of Witchcraft,” tells us: “He that receiveth a mischance will consider whether he put not on his shirt wrong side outwards, or his left shoe on his right foot.” Thus Butler in his “Hudibras”:

“Augustus, having b’ oversight,
Put on his left shoe ’fore his right,
Had like to have been slain that day.
By soldiers mutiny’ng for pay.”

Similar to this is putting on one stocking with the wrong side outward, without design; though changing it alters the luck; and if you accidentally put on any garment wrong side out, and make a wish before changing it, the wish will come true.

12. To arise on the _right_ side is accounted lucky. In the old play of the “Dumb Knight,” published 1633, Act iv., Scene 1, Alphonso says:

“Sure I said my prayers, _rose on my right side_,
Washed my hands and eyes, put on my girdle last;
Sure I met no splay-footed baker,
No hare did cross me, nor no bearded witch,
Nor other ominous sign.” (See 27.)

13. When the nose itches, it is a sign that you will have company visit you the same day. In Melton’s “Astrologaster,” No. 27, it is observed “that when a _man’s nose itcheth_ it is a sign he shall drink wine;” and in No. 28, that, “if _your lips itch_, it is a sign you shall kisse somebody.”

14. The nose falling a-bleeding appears, by the following passage from an old play, to have been an omen of bad luck:

“How superstitiously we mind our evils!
The throwing down of salt, or crossing of a hare,
_Bleeding at nose_, the stumbling of a horse,
Or singing of a cricket, are of power
To daunt whole man in us.” (See 27 and 40.)

15. Washing the hands, says Grose, in the same basin, or with the same water, that another person has washed in, is extremely unlucky, as the parties will infallibly quarrel.

16. Candle omens are very numerous. Melton, in his “Astrologaster,” says: “If a candle burne blue, it is a signe that there is a spirit in the house, or not farre from it.” A collection of tallow, says Grose, rising up against the wick of a candle, is styled a winding sheet, and deemed an omen of death in the family.

A spark at the candle, says the same author, denotes that the party opposite to it will shortly receive a letter. A kind of fungus in the candle, observes the same writer, predicts the visit of a stranger from the part of the country nearest the object. Others say it implies the arrival of a parcel. (See 59.)

Dr. Goldsmith, in his “Vicar of Wakefield,” speaking of the waking dreams of his hero’s daughters, says: “The girls had their omens too; they saw rings in the candles.”

17. In the “Secret Memoirs of the late Mr. Duncan Campbell,” published in London, 1732, the author says: “I have seen people who, after writing a _letter_, have prognosticated to themselves the ill success of it, if by any accident it happened to fall to the ground; others have seemed as impatient and exclaiming against their want of thought, if through haste or forgetfulness they have chanced to hold it before the fire to dry; but the mistake of a word in it is a sure omen that whatever requests it carries shall be refused.”

18. If two spoons are accidentally placed in a cup or saucer at table, it signifies a wedding will soon take place in the family.

19. To have a picture drop out of its frame, or to have a precious stone or any ornament drop from its setting while wearing or using it, is a bad omen.

Stow, in his _Chronicle_, relates that the silver cross which was wont to be carried before Wolsey fell out of its socket, and was like to have knocked out the brains of one of his servants. A very little while after came in a messenger, and arrested the cardinal before he could get out of the house.

20. The removal of a long-worn ring from the finger was thought unlucky in Elizabeth’s time; for the Queen, in her last illness (says Baker), commanded the ring to be filed off her finger, wherewith she was so solemnly at first inaugurated into the kingdom, and since that time had never taken it off; it being grown into the flesh of the finger in such a manner that it could not be drawn off without filing.

21. There is an omen called “Setting the New Year in,”--that if the kindly office is performed by some one with _dark_ hair, good fortune will smile on the household; while it augurs ill if a _light-haired_ person is the first to enter the house in the New Year.

22. It is a very ancient superstition that all sudden pains of the body, and other sensations which could not naturally be accounted for, were presages of somewhat that was shortly to happen. Shakspeare alludes to this in the following lines from Macbeth:

“By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes.”

23. In olden times, the cat sneezing appears to have been considered as a lucky omen to a bride who was to be married the next day.

24. Small spiders, termed _money spinners_, are held by many to prognosticate good luck, if they are not destroyed or injured, or removed from the person on whom they are first observed. In the “Secret Memoirs” of Mr. Duncan Campbell, in the chapter of omens, we read that “others have thought themselves secure of receiving money, if by chance a little spider fell upon their clothes.” (See 33.)

25. It is extremely unlucky, says Grose, to kill a lady-bug, a swallow, robin redbreast, or wren. There is a particular distich, he adds, in favor of the robin and wren:

“A robin and a wren
Are God Almighty’s cock and hen.”

Persons killing any of the above-named birds or insects, or destroying their nests, will infallibly, within the course of the year, break a bone, or meet with some other dreadful misfortune. On the contrary, it is deemed lucky to have swallows build their nests in the eaves of a house, or in the chimneys.

In an old pastoral published in London, 1770, the following occurs:

“I found a _robin’s nest_ within our shed,
And in the barn a _wren_ had young ones bred.
I never take away their nest, nor try
To catch the old ones, lest a friend should die.
Dick took a wren’s nest from his cottage side,
And ere a twelvemonth past his mother dy’d.”

26. It is deemed very unlucky to hear a screech-owl at night. “If an owl,” says Bourne, “which is reckoned a most abominable and unlucky bird, send forth its hoarse and dismal voice, it is the omen of the approach of some terrible thing--that some dire calamity and some great misfortune is at hand.” (See 56.)

This omen occurs in Chaucer:

“The jelous swan, ayenst hys deth that singeth,
The _oule_ eke, that of deth the bode bringeth.”

The following lines occur in the old pastoral before quoted in 25:

“Within my cot, where quiet gave me rest,
Let the dread screech-owl build her hated nest,
And from my window o’er the country send
Her midnight screams to bode my latter end.”

27. It has always been considered a very bad omen to have a hare (see 14), sow, or weasel cross your path when going on a journey or to business. Melton, in his “Astrologaster,” says, that “it is a very unfortunate thing for a man to meete early in the morning an ill-favored man or woman, a rough-footed hen, a shag-haired dog, or a black cat.” Shaw, in his “History of Money,” tells us that the ancient Scots much regarded omens in their expeditions; an armed man or a wolf meeting them was a good omen; if a woman barefoot crossed the road before them, they seized her and fetched blood from her forehead; if a deer, fox, hare, or any kind of game appeared, and they did not kill it, it was an unlucky omen. We gather from a remarkable book, entitled “The School-master,” published in London, 1583, that in the ages of chivalry it was thought unlucky to meet with a priest, if a man was going forth to war or a tournament.

The following superstitions among the Malabrians are related in Phillips’s account of them, published in 1717: “It is interpreted as a very bad sign if a blind man, a Bramin, or a washerwoman meets one on the way; as also when one meets a man with an empty panel, or when one sees an oil mill, or if a man meets us with his head uncovered, or when one hears a weeping voice, or sees a cat or fox crossing the way, or a dog running on his right hand, or when a poor man or a widow meets us on our way, or when we are called back.” (See 37.)

Gaule, in his “Mag-astromancers Posed and Puzzel’d,” holds it as a vain observation “to bode good or bad luck from the rising up on the right or left side (see 12); from lifting the left leg over the threshold, at first going out of doors; from the meeting of a beggar or a priest the first in a morning; the meeting of a virgin or a harlot first; the running in of a child between two friends; the justling one another at unawares; one treading upon another’s toes; to meet one fasting that is lame or defective in any member; to wash in the same water with another.” (See 15.)

28. To walk under a ladder portends disappointment.

29. To comb your hair after dark is also a sign of disappointment.

30. If a young lady loses her garter, it presages that she has an inconstant lover; therefore, O lady, when thou hast this ill augury, look about thee, and become the happy possessor of two strings to thy bow, or, what is the same thing, two beaus to thy string.

N. B.--Rich or very good-looking young ladies may treat the above with disdain.

31. If you sing before breakfast, it denotes that you will cry before supper.

32. To drop a dish-cloth, duster, or any cleaning cloth, signifies the arrival of one or more visitors.

33. If a spider, in weaving his web in some high place, comes downward before your face, you may look for money from some unexpected source. (See 24.)

34. If you make a rhyme involuntarily, before speaking again make a wish, and it will be fulfilled.

35. When you sleep in a strange bed, remember your dream and tell it before breakfast. Observing these precautions, the dream will probably come to pass.

36. To break a needle while making a garment, is a sign that the owner will live to wear it out.

37. If you return after starting on a journey, it signifies bad luck. (See 27.)

38. To remove a cat, with a family when changing residence, will bring bad luck.

39. If a vacant rocking-chair is rocked violently, the next person who sits in it will be in danger of being ill within the year.

40. It is a lucky sign to have crickets in the house. Grose says it is held extremely unlucky to kill a cricket, perhaps from the idea of its being a breach of hospitality, this insect taking refuge in houses. The voice of a cricket, says the “Spectator,” has struck more terror than the roaring of a lion.

The following line occurs in Dryden’s and Lee’s “Œdipus:”

“Owls, ravens, _crickets_, seem the watch of death.”

Melton says that “it is a signe of death to some in that house where crickets have been many yeares, if on a sudden they forsake the chimney.” (See 14.)

41. It is said that a married person will not get rich until the wedding clothes are worn out. It is also said to be a sign that one will fail to get rich who tries to see to work between daylight and dark.

42. It is a bad omen to postpone a marriage after the time positively appointed.

43. If your right ear burns or itches, it is a sign that some absent person is speaking well of you; your left ear burning, signifies that you are being spoken ill of.

44. The superstition has become almost universal, that the ticking of a little insect called the “death-watch,” presages the death of some one in the house.

“How many people have I seen in the most terrible palpitations, for months together, expecting every hour the approach of some calamity, only by a little worm, which breeds in an old wainscot, and, endeavoring to eat its way out, makes a noise like the movement of a watch!”--_Secret Memoirs of the late Mr. Duncan Campbell_, 1732.

The following witty account of this superstition, by Dean Swift, furnishes us with a charm to avert the omen:

----“A wood-worm
That lies in old wood, like a hare in her form,
With teeth or with claws it will bite, or will scratch,
And chambermaids christen this worm a death-watch,
Because, like a watch it always cries click;
Then woe be to those in the house who are sick;
For as sure as a gun they will give up the ghost,
If the maggot cries click, when it scratches the post.
But a kettle of boiling hot water injected
Infallibly cures the timber affected;
The omen is broken, the danger is over,
The maggot will die, and the sick will recover.”

45. If a knife, scissors, or any sharp-pointed instrument is dropped, and stands, sticking in the floor, company may be expected.

46. The right hand itching is a sign that the person will shake hands with a stranger; the left hand itching is a sign that money will be received soon.

47. If you sing during any meal, it is a sign you will soon be disappointed.

48. To cross a funeral procession is an ill omen.

49. To find a pearl in an oyster betokens good fortune.

50. To break a looking-glass foretells death. Grose tells us that “breaking a looking-glass betokens a mortality in the family, commonly the master.” Bonaparte’s (Napoleon I.) superstition upon this point is often recorded. “During one of his campaigns in Italy,” says M. de Constant, “he broke the glass over Josephine’s portrait. He never rested till the return of the courier he forthwith dispatched to assure himself of her safety, so strong was the impression of her death upon his mind.”

51. To find a trefoil, or four-leaved clover, implies good luck; a five-leaved clover, bad luck. Melton, in his “Astrologaster,” says that “if a man walking in the fields, finde any foure-leaved grasse, he shall, in a small while after, finde some good thing.”

52. If four persons cross hands while in the act of shaking hands, it indicates that two of the party will soon be married.

53. If three unmarried persons having the same Christian name meet at table, it is a sign that one of the three will be married within a year.

54. To be startled by a snake is a sign of sickness.

55. When thirteen persons sit down together at table, it is a sign that one of the party will die within a year. Fosbroke, in his _Encyclopædia of Antiquities_, states that “thirteen in company was considered an unlucky number by the ancient Romans;” but he does not give any classical authority for this statement.

There is at Dantzic a clock, which at 12 admits, through a door, Christ and the eleven, shutting out Judas, who is admitted at 1. But is not the belief older than the clock? The iniquity of Judas may have led him to be considered the thirteenth at the Lord’s Supper; and his self-destruction may have given to the number thirteen its fatal association.

It has, however, been explained away by M. Quetelet, in his work on _Probabilities_ as follows: “If the probability be required, that out of thirteen persons, of different ages, one of them, at least, shall die within a year, it will be found that the chances are about one to one that one death, at least, will occur. This calculation, by means of a false interpretation, has given rise to the prejudice, no less ridiculous, that the danger will be avoided by inviting a greater number of guests, which can only have the effect of augmenting the probability of the event so much apprehended.”

This belief obtains in Italy and Russia, as well as in England. Moore, in his _Diary_, vol. ii., p. 206, mentions there being thirteen at dinner, one day, at Madame Catalani’s, when a French countess, who lived with her up-stairs, was sent for to remedy the grievance.

“Lord L(ansdowne) said he had dined once abroad with Count Orloff, and perceived he did not sit down at dinner, but kept walking from chair to chair; he found afterward it was because the Narishken were at table, who, he knew, would rise instantly if they perceived the number thirteen, which Orloff would have made by sitting down himself.” (See 63.)

56. If a dog bays under your window at night, it portends sickness or death.

Shakspeare ranks this among omens. In the play of Henry VI., he says:

“The owl shrieked at thy birth; an evil sign!
The night-crow cry’d, aboding luckless time;
_Dogs howl’d_, and hideous tempests shook down trees.”

57. The howling of dogs, says Grose, is a certain sign that some one of the family will very shortly die.

The following passage is in the “Merry Devil” of Edmonton, 1631:

“I hear the watchful dogs
With hollow howling tell of thy approach.”

58. If you break your shoe-string, look out for your sweetheart, for she will bestow her love upon a stranger.

59. A flake of soot hanging at the bars of the grate, denotes the visit of a stranger, like the fungus of a candle, from the part of the country nearest the object.

Dr. Goldsmith, in his “Vicar of Wakefield,” among the omens of his hero’s daughters, tells us “purses bounded from the fire.” In some parts of England, the cinders that bound from the fire are carefully examined by old women and children, and according to their respective forms are called either _coffins_ or _purses_; and consequently thought to be presages of death or wealth.

A coal, says Grose, in the shape of a coffin, flying out of the fire towards any particular person, betokens their death not far off.

Cowper alludes to this superstition in the following lines in his “Winter Evening:”

“Me oft has fancy, ludicrous and wild,
Sooth’d with a waking dream of _houses_, _towers_,
_Trees_, _churches_, and strange visages express’d
_In the red cinders_, while with poring eye
I gazed, myself creating what I saw.
Nor less amused have I quiescent watch’d
_The sooty films that play upon the bars,_
_Pendulous, and foreboding_ in the view
Of superstition, _prophesying still_,
Though still deceived, some stranger’s near approach.”

60. To drop a slice of bread, with the buttered side down, is a sign that a visitor will come hungry.

61. To eat up all the food which is on the table at tea-time, is a sign that the morrow will be a fair day.

62. In olden times it was not considered a good omen to find money. Melton says that “it is a sign of ill-luck to find money.” We have seen superstitious people, at the present day, keep for luck any piece of money they found, but Greene, in his “Art of Cony-Catching,” a very old work, tells us: “’Tis ill luck to keep found money.” Therefore it must be spent. Mason, in his “Anatomie of Sorcerie,” 1612, enumerating our superstitions, mentions as one omen of good luck, “if drink be spilled upon a man: or if he find old iron.” Hence it is accounted a lucky omen to find a _horseshoe_. (See 8.)

63. The ancients thought there was luck in odd numbers. In setting a hen, says Grose, the good women hold it as an indispensible rule to put an odd number of eggs. All sorts of remedies are ordered to be taken, three, seven, or nine times. Salutes of cannon consist of an odd number. Notwithstanding these opinions in favor of odd numbers, the number thirteen is considered very ominous. (See 55.)

CONCLUDING REMARKS.

The belief in omens has existed in all ages and countries, and traces of it linger even yet in the most civilized communities, in the dread, for instance, that many entertain of sitting down to table in a party of thirteen. Not a little of the philosophy of omens is contained in the Scottish proverb: “Them who follow freits, freits follow;” meaning that a fantastic belief in impending evil paralyzes the endeavor that might prevent it.

There are few omens, perhaps none, which are not universal in their authority, though every land in turn fancies them (like its proverbs) of local prescription and origin. The death-watch extends from America to Cashmere, and across India diagonally to the remotest nook of Bengal, over three thousand miles distance from the entrance of the Indian Punjaub. A hare crossing a man’s path, on starting in the morning, has been held in all countries alike to prognosticate evil in the course of that day.

WEATHER OMENS.

FOR FINE AND DRY WEATHER OF LONG CONTINUANCE.

1. If the wind be north, north-west, or east, then veer to the north-east, remain there two or three days without rain, and then veer to the south without rain; and if thence it change quickly, though perhaps with a little rain, to the north-east, and remain there--such fine weather will last occasionally for two months.

2. If there be dry weather with a weak south wind for five, six, or seven days, it having previously blown strongly from the same quarter.

3. If spiders in spinning their webs, make the terminating filaments long, we may, in proportion to their length, conclude that the weather will be serene, and continue so for ten or twelve days.

4. If there are no falling stars to be seen on a bright summer’s evening, you may look for fine weather.

5. If there be a change from continued stormy or wet to clear and dry weather, at the time of new or full moon, or a short time before or after, and so remain until the second day of the new or full moon, it is likely to remain fine till the following quarter; and if it change not then, or only for a very short time, it usually lasts until the following new or full moon; and if it does not change then, or only for a very short time, it is likely to continue fine and dry for four or five weeks.

6. If there be a change of weather at the time of the quarters, &c. (under the same circumstances as in No. 5), it will probably last for some time.

7. Spiders generally alter their webs once in 24 hours; if they do this between six and seven in the evening, there will be a fine night; if they alter their web in the morning, a fine day; if they work during rain, expect fine weather; and the more active and busy the spider is, the finer will be the weather.

8. If near the full moon there be a general mist before sunrise; or

9. If there be a sheep-sky, or white clouds driving to the north-west, it will be fine for some days.

FOR FOUL AND WET WEATHER.

10. If the sun rise pale, or pale-red, or even dark-blue, there will be _rain during the day_.

11. If the clouds at sunrise be red, there will be _rain the following day_.

12. If at sunrise many dark clouds are seen in the west, and remain, there will be _rain on that day_.

13. If the sun rise covered with a dark-spotted cloud; _rain the same day_.

14. If in the winter there be a red sky at sunrise; _steady rain same day_; in summer, _showers and wind_.

15. If the sun set in dark heavy clouds; _rain next day_.

16. But if it rain directly; _wind the following day_.

17. If the sun set pale or purple; _rain or wind the following day_.

18. If the sun set, and there be a very red sky in the east, _wind_; in the south-east, _rain_.

19. If long strips of clouds drive at a slow rate high in the air, and gradually become larger, the sky having been previously clear, there will be wet.

20. If there be many falling stars on a clear evening, in the summer, there will be _thunder_.

21. If there be a change of the wind from the north-west or west, to the south-west or south, or else from the north-east or east, to the south-east or south; _wet_.

22. If the sun burn more than usual, or there be a halo round the sun during fine weather; _wet_.

23. If it rain and the sun shine; _showers_.

24. If the full moon rise pale; _wet_.

25. If the full moon rise red; _wind_.

26. If the stars appear larger, and closer, and flicker; _rain or wind_.

27. If small white clouds, with rough edges, be seen to gather together; _there will be wind_.

28. Before thunder it often begins to blow.

29. If there be a fleecy sky, unless driving north-west; _wet_.

30. If clouds at different heights float in different directions.

31. If an assemblage of large or small clouds spread out, or become thicker and darker.

32. If clouds suddenly appear in the south.

33. If the lower clouds drive more from the south than those above.

34. If there be rain about two hours after sunrise, it will be followed by _showers_.

35. If there be a damp fog or mist, accompanied with wind; _wet_.

36. If there be a halo round the moon, in fine weather; and the larger the circle, the nearer the _rain_.

37. If the stars above 45 degrees, especially the North Star, flicker strongly and appear closer than usual, there will be _rain_.

38. If the morning be clear and sunny, in summer or autumn, there will be _rain_.

39. If the fields in the morning be covered with a heavy wet fog, it will _generally rain within two or three days_.

40. “A rainbow in the morning is the shepherd’s warning.”

FOR STORM.

41. If the clouds be of different heights, the sky above being grayish or dirty blue, with hardly any wind stirring; the wind, however, changing from W. to S., or sometimes to S. E., without perceptibly increasing in force.

42. If there be a clouded sky, and dark clouds driving fast (either with the wind or more from the south), under the higher clouds, violent gusts of wind.

43. If there be long points, tails, or feathers hanging from thunder or rain-clouds, five, six, or more degrees above the horizon, with little wind in summer, thunder may be expected; but the storm will be generally of short duration.

44. If there be a light blue sky, with thin, light, flying clouds, whilst the wind goes to the south without much increase in force; or a dirty-blue sky, where no clouds are to be seen; storm.

45. If the sun be seen double, or more times reflected in the clouds, expect a heavy storm.

46. If the sun set with a very red sky in the east, expect stormy wind.

47. If two or three rings be seen round the moon, which are spotted and spread out, expect a storm of long continuance.

48. If porpoises and whales sport about ships.

49. If sea-gulls and other birds fly inland.

50. Storms are most frequent in December, January and February. In September, there are generally one or two storms. If it blow in the day, it generally hushes toward evening; but if it continue blowing then, it may be expected to continue. The vernal equinoctial gales are stronger than the autumnal.

FOR THUNDER AND HEAVY RAIN.

51. If long horizontal strips appear with two or three edges spreading out at top into feathers, and passing over the middle of other clouds, generally there will be thunder.

52. If the clouds be uniformly black, or dark gray.

53. In May and July it thunders most; in May, expect thunder with a south-west wind.

54. If there be north-east or easterly wind in the spring, after a strong increase of heat, and small clouds appear in different parts of the sky; or if the wind change from east to south at the appearance of clouds preceded by heat.

55. If a morning fog form into clouds, at different heights, which increase in size and drive in layers.

56. If clouds float at different heights and rates, but generally in opposite directions.

57. If there be many “falling stars” on a fine summer’s eve.

58. If there be sheet lightning, with a clear sky, on spring, summer, and autumn evenings.

59. If the wind be hushed with sudden heat.

60. If clover contract its leaves.

61. If there be thunder in the evening, there will be much rain and showery weather.

FOR THE APPROACH OF THUNDER.

62. If an east wind blow against a dark heavy sky from the westward, the wind decreasing in force as the clouds approach.

63. If the clouds rise and twist in different directions.

64. If the birds be silent.

65. If cattle run round and collect together in the meadows.

FOR CONTINUED THUNDER SHOWERS.

66. If there be showery weather, with sunshine, and increase of heat in the spring, a thunder storm may be expected every day, or at least every other day.

ABATEMENT OF THUNDER STORMS.

67. If the air be very dry, with clear, yet cooler weather; or if one or two following days the atmosphere be heavy, with a little damp falling.

68. With a north wind it seldom thunders; but with a south and south-west wind, often.

FOR COLDER WEATHER.

69. If the wind change to the north and north-east.

70. If the wind change, _in summer only_, to the north-west.

71. If the wind shift to the east _in summer only_.

72. If the wind shift from south to south-east _in winter_.

FOR INCREASE OF WARMTH OR HEAT.

73. If the wind shift round to the south and south-west.

74. If the wind change from east, north-east, or north, to north-west and west, _in the winter_.

75. If the wind change to the east, _in summer only_; especially if from north-east.

76. If the wind change to south-east, _especially in summer_.

FOR FROST.

77. If birds of passage arrive early from colder climates.

78. If the cold increase _whilst it snows_, as soon as it begins to freeze.

79. If the wind blow north-east _in winter_.

80. If the ice crack much, expect the frost to continue.

81. If the mole dig his hole two feet and a half deep, _expect a very severe winter_. If two feet deep, not so severe; one foot deep, a mild winter.

82. If water-fowl or sparrows make more noise than usual; also if robins approach nearer houses than usual; _frost_.

83. If there be a dark, gray sky, with a south wind.

84. If there be continued fogs.

85. If the fire burn unusually fierce and bright in winter there will be frost and clear weather; if the fire burn dull, expect damp and rain.

FOR THAW.

86. If snow fall in flakes, which increase in size.

87. If the heat increase in the afternoon, or suddenly before twelve o’clock.

88. If clouds drive up high from the south, south-west, or west.

89. If it freeze, and the barometer fall 20 or 30 hundredths.

HYMEN’S LOTTERY.

Let each one present deposit any sum agreed on, but of course some trifle; put a complete pack of fifty-two cards, well shuffled, in a bag or reticule. Let the party stand in a circle, and the bag being handed around, each draw three cards. Pairs of any are favorable omens of some good fortune about to occur to the party, and gets back from the pool the sum that each agreed to pay. The king of hearts is here made the god of love, and claims double, and gives a faithful swain to the fair one who has the good fortune to draw him; if Venus, the queen of hearts, is with him, it is the conquering prize, and clears the pool; fives and nines are reckoned crosses and misfortunes, and pay a forfeit of the sum agreed on to the pool, besides the usual stipend at each new game; three nines at one draw shows the lady will be an old maid; three fives, a bad husband.

LIST OF UNLUCKY DAYS,

_Which, to those Persons being males born on them, will generally prove unfortunate._

January, 3, 4.
February, 6, 7, 12, 13, 19, 20.
March, 5, 6, 12, 13.
May, 12, 13, 20, 21, 26, 27.
June, 1, 2, 9, 10, 16, 17, 22, 23, 24.
July, 3, 4, 10, 11, 16, 17, 18.
October, 3, 4, 9, 10, 11, 16, 17, 31.
November, 1, 3.

Almost all persons (being of the male sex) that are born on the days included in the foregoing table, will, in a greater or less degree suffer, not only by pecuniary embarrassment and losses of property, but will also experience great distress and anxiety of mind, much dissatisfaction, dissension, and unhappiness in their family affairs, much dissatisfaction to each other among the married ones (indeed few of them can ever be happy in the married state), trouble about their children, daughters forming unfortunate attachments, and a variety of untoward events of other descriptions which our limits do not allow us to particularize. The influence of these days are of a quality and tendency calculated to excite in the minds of persons born on them, an extraordinary itch for speculation, to make changes in their affairs, commence new undertakings of various kinds, but all of them will tend nearly to one point, loss of property and pecuniary embarrassments. Such persons who embark their capital on credit in new concerns or engagements, will be likely to receive checks or interruptions to the progress of their schemes or undertakings. Those who enter into engagements intended to be permanent, whether purchases, leases, partnerships, or in short any other speculation of a description which cannot readily be transferred or got rid of will dearly _repent their bargains_.

They will find their affairs from time to time much interrupted and agitated, and experience many disappointments in money matters, trouble through bills, and have need of all their activity and address to prop their declining credit; indeed almost all engagements and affairs that are entered upon by persons born on any of these days will receive some sort of check or obstruction. The greater number of those persons born on these days will be subject to weakness or sprains in the knees and ankles, also diseases and hurts in the legs.

LIST OF UNLUCKY DAYS,

_Which to those persons (being females) born on them will generally prove unfortunate._

January, 5, 6, 13, 14, 20, and 21.
February, 2, 3, 9, 10, 16, 17, 22, and 23.
March, 1, 2, 8, 9, 16, 17, 28, and 29.
April, 24 and 25.
May, 1, 2, 9, 17, 22, 29, and 30.
June, 5, 6, 12, 13, 18, and 19.
July, 3 and 4.
September, 9 and 16.
October, 20 and 27.
November, 9, 10, 21, 29, and 30.
December, 6, 14, and 21.

We particularly advise all females born on these days to be extremely cautious of placing their affections too hastily, as they will be subject to _disappointments_ and _vexations_ in that respect; it will be better for them (in those matters) to be guided by the advice of their friends, rather than by their own feelings, they will be less fortunate in placing their affections, than in any other action of their lives, as many of these marriages will terminate in separations, divorces, &c. Their courtships will end in elopements, seductions, and other ways not necessary of explanation. Our readers must be well aware that affairs of importance begun at inauspicious times, by those who have been born at those periods when the stars shed their malign influence, can seldom, if ever, lead to much good; it is, therefore, that we endeavor to lay before them a correct statement drawn from accurate astrological information, in order that by strict attention and care, they may avoid falling into those perplexing labyrinths from which nothing but that care and attention can save them. The list of days we have above given, will be productive of hasty and clandestine marriages--marriages under untoward circumstances, perplexing attachments, and as a natural consequence, the displeasure of friends, together with family broils, dissensions, and divisions. We now present our readers with a

LIST OF DAYS USUALLY CONSIDERED FORTUNATE.

_With respect to Courtship, Marriage, and Love affairs in general--Females that were born on the following days may expect_ _Courtships and prospects of Marriage, and which will have a happy termination._

January, 1, 2, 15, 26, 27, 28.
February, 11, 21, 25, 26.
March, 10, 24.
April, 6, 15, 16, 20, 28.
May, 3, 13, 18, 31.
June, 10, 11, 15, 25, 22.
July, 9, 14, 15, 28.
August, 6, 7, 10, 11, 19, 20, 25.
September, 4, 8, 9, 17, 18, 23.
October, 3, 7, 16, 21, 22.
November, 5, 14, 20.
December, 14, 15, 19, 20, 22, 23, 25.

Although the greater number, or indeed nearly all the ladies that are born on the days stated in the preceding list, will be likely to meet with a _prospect_ of marriage, or become engaged in some love affair of more than ordinary importance, yet it must not be expected that the _result_ will be the same with all of them; with some they will _terminate_ in _marriage_--with others in disappointment--and some of them will be in danger of forming _attachments_ that may prove of a somewhat _troublesome_ description. We shall, therefore, in order to enable our readers to distinguish them, give a comprehensive and useful list, showing which of them will be most likely to marry.

Those born within the limits of the succeeding List of Hours, on any of the preceding days, will be the most likely to _marry_--or will, at least, have _Courtships_ that will be likely to have a happy termination.

LIST OF FORTUNATE HOURS.

January 2d. From 30 minutes past 10 till 15 minutes past 11 in the morning; and from 15 minutes before 9 till 15 minutes before 11 at night.

15th. From 30 minutes past 9 till 15 minutes past 10 in the morning; and from 30 minutes past 7 till 15 minutes past 11 at night.

26th. From 30 minutes past 8 till 15 minutes past 9 in the morning; and from 7 till 15 minutes past 10 at night.

February 11th and 12th. From 30 minutes past 7 till 15 minutes past 8, in the morning; and from 15 minutes past 6 till 15 minutes before 9 at night.

21st. From 7 till 15 minutes before 8 in the morning; and from 15 minutes past 5 till 15 minutes before 8 at night.

25th and 26th. From 15 minutes before 7 till 30 minutes past 7 in the morning; and from 15 minutes before 5 till 30 minutes past 7 in the evening.

March 10th. From 5 till 15 minutes before 6 in the morning; and from 4 in the afternoon till 15 minutes before 7 in the evening.

April 6th. From 15 minutes past 4 till 5 in the morning; and from 30 minutes past 2 till 15 minutes past 5 in the afternoon.

20th. From 30 minutes past 3 till 15 minutes past 4 in the morning; and from 30 minutes past 1 till 15 minutes past 4 in the afternoon.

May 3d. From 15 minutes before 3 till 30 minutes past 3 in the morning; and from 15 minutes before 1 till 30 minutes past 3 in the afternoon.

13th. From 2 till 15 minutes before 3 in the morning; and from 12 at noon till 15 minutes before 3 in the afternoon.

18th. From 15 minutes before 1 till 30 minutes past 2 in the morning; and from 15 minutes before 12 at noon till 30 minutes past 2 in the afternoon.

31st. From 15 minutes before 1 till 30 minutes past 1 in the morning; and from 15 minutes past 10 in the morning till 15 minutes before 1 in the afternoon.

June 10th and 11th. From 15 minutes past 10 till 1 in the afternoon; and from 12 at night till 1 in the morning.

15th. From 10 in the morning till 2 in the afternoon; and from 15 minutes before 12 at night till 15 minutes before 1 in the morning.

25th. From 15 minutes past 9 in the morning till 12 at noon; and from 11 to 12 at night.

29th. From 9 in the morning till 15 minutes before 12 at noon; and from 15 minutes before 11 till 15 minutes before 12 at night.

July 9th. From 15 minutes past 8 till 11 in the morning; and from 10 till 11 at night.

14th and 15th. From 8 till 11 in the morning; and from 10 till 11 at night.

28th. From 7 till 10 in the morning; and from 9 till 10 at night.

August 6th and 7th. From 30 minutes past 6 till 15 minutes past 9 in the morning; and from 15 minutes past 8 till 15 minutes past 9 at night.

10 and 11th. From 15 minutes past 6 till 9 in the morning; and from 8 till 9 in the evening.

19th and 20th. From 30 minutes past 5 till 30 minutes past 8 in the morning; and from 30 minutes past 7 till 30 minutes past 8 in the evening.

25th. From 15 minutes past 5 till 8 in the morning; and from 7 till 8 in the evening.

September 4th. From 15 minutes before 5 till 30 minutes past 7 in the morning; and from 30 minutes past 6 till 30 minutes past 7 in the evening.

8th and 9th. From 30 minutes past 4 till 15 minutes past 7 in the morning; and from 15 minutes past 6 till 15 minutes past 7 in the evening.

17th and 18th. From 5 till 15 minutes before 5 in the morning; and from 15 minutes before 6 till 15 minutes before 7 in the evening.

23d. From 30 minutes past 3 till 30 minutes past 5 in the morning; and from 30 minutes past 5 till 30 minutes past 6 in the evening.

October 3d. From 3 till 15 minutes before 6 in the morning; and from 15 minutes past 4 till 15 minutes past 5 in the afternoon.

7th. From 15 minutes before 3 till 30 minutes past 5 in the morning; and from 30 minutes past 4 till 30 minutes past 5 in the afternoon.

16th. From 2 till 5 in the morning; and from 4 till 5 in the afternoon.

21st and 22d. From 15 minutes before 2 till 30 minutes past 4 in the morning; and from 30 minutes past 3 till 15 minutes past 4 in the afternoon.

November 5th. From 1 till 15 minutes before 4 in the morning; and from 15 minutes before 3 till 15 minutes before 4 in the afternoon.

14th. From 15 minutes past 12 till 3 in the morning; and from 2 till 3 in the afternoon.

20th. From 15 minutes before 12 till 15 minutes past 2 in the morning; and from 15 minutes past 1 till 2 in the afternoon.

December 14th and 15th. From 10 till 30 minutes past 12 in the morning; and from 12 at noon till 15 minutes before 1 in the afternoon.

18th and 19th. From 15 minutes before 10 at night till 15 minutes past 5 in the morning; and from 30 minutes past 11 till 15 minutes past 12 at night.

January 3d. From 30 minutes past 10 till 15 minutes past 11 in the morning; and from 15 minutes before 9 till 15 minutes past 11 at night.

12th and 13th. From 15 minutes past 9 till 10 in the morning; and from 15 minutes before 8 till 30 minutes past 10 at night.

18th. From 9 till 15 minutes before 10 in the morning; and from 15 minutes past 7 till 10 at night.

27th. From 9 till 15 minutes before 10 in the morning; and from 7 till 15 minutes before 10 at night.

February 1st. From 8 till 30 minutes past 8 in the morning; and from 6 till 30 minutes past 8 in the evening.

11th and 12th. From 15 minutes before 8 till 30 minutes past 8 in the morning; and from 15 minutes before 6 till 30 minutes past 8 in the evening.

17th. From 7 till 15 minutes before 8 in the morning; and from 15 minutes past 5 till 8 in the evening.

March 1st. From 30 minutes past 6 till 15 minutes past 7 in the morning; and from 30 minutes past 4 till 15 minutes past 7 in the evening.

16th and 17th. From 30 minutes past 5 till 15 minutes past 6 in the morning; and from 15 minutes before 4 till 30 minutes past 6 in the evening.

19th, 20th, 21st, 22d, 23d, 24th, and 25th. From 30 minutes past 5 till 30 minutes past 6 in the morning; and from 30 minutes past 3 till 15 minutes past 6 in the evening.

26th, 27th, 28th, 29th, and 30th. From 15 minutes past 5 till 15 minutes before 6 in the morning; and from 15 minutes past 3 till 6 in the evening.

April 3d, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th. From 30 minutes past 4 till 30 minutes past 5 in the morning; and from 30 minutes past 2 till 5 in the afternoon.

10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, and 14th. From 15 minutes before 4 till 15 minutes before 5 in the morning; and from 2 till 30 minutes past 4 in the afternoon.