the virtue of indicating the good or ill fortune of the ensu- "Clara dies Pauli bona tempora denotat anni; Si fuerint venti, designant prælia genti; Of these canons of prognostication there is extant the following ancient version, which Willsford has inserted somewhat altered, in his 'Nature's Secrets' : "If Saint Paules day be faire and cleare It doth betide a happy yeare: But if by chance it then should raine, It will make deare all kinds of graine. If the clouds make dark the skie, The neate and fowles this year shall die : If blustering winds do blow aloft, Then wars shall trouble the realm full oft." The usual state of the weather at this season seems to have given rise to proverbial phrases as well as prognostications; thus Shakspeare's Don Pedro says, "Good morrow, Benedict; why what's the matter That you have such a February face, So full of frost, of storm and cloudiness?"+ On this month, consisting of the same number of days as the solar cycle, Owen has the following epigram : Es similis Matri tu, de tot fratribus, unus; February 1 is dedicated to St. Bride, Bridget, or * Bibl. Bodl. MSS. Codex, 2067, art. 14. + Much ado about Nothing, Act V., sc. 4. Epigrammat. Joannis Audoeni Cambro-Britanni. Lib. IV., Ep. 108, Lond. 1659. BOOK II. St. Paul. St. Bride BOOK II. Daghdae or Dagon, the sun. Mr. Faber says, "Brid is the prototype of St. Bride, to whom so many Welsh St. Bride. churches are dedicated; and the deity from whose name our English word Bride, a new married woman, is derived. Brid, being the goddess of the covenant which ratified the allegorical marriage of Noah and the Ark, was thence esteemed the tutelary genius of marriage in general: accordingly we are informed by Col. Vallancey, that the sacrifice on the confirmation of marriage was by the ancient Irish denominated Caca Brideoige, or the cake of Brid. (Vind. of Anc. Hist. of Ireland. Collect. de Reb. Hibern. Vol. V., p. 492). It is evident that our modern custom of having a bride-cake, as it is termed, upon the marriage day, originated from this idolatrous rite."* Bride's Candlemas The Purification, or Candlemas Day,† February 2, is another of those days from which the superstitious agriculturist, has been accustomed to estimate the character of the weather for the ensuing year. Bishop Hall, in a sermon on Candlemas Day, remarks that "it hath been an old (I say not how true) note, that hath been wont to be set on this day, that if it be clear and sun-shiny, it portends a hard weather to come; if cloudy and louring, a mild and gentle season ensuing." Sir Thomas Browne, in his Vulgar Errors, quotes the metrical foundation of the bishop's remark: "There is a general tradition, he says," in some parts of Europe, that inferreth the coldnesse of succeeding weather from the shining of the sun on Candlemas Day, according to the proverbial distich : "Si sol splendescat, Maria purificante, * Dissert. on the Cabiri, Vol. II., p. 400, note. + Candelaria; Candelcisa; Candelossa; Candlemas; Chandelor; Chaundelure; Festum Beatæ Mariæ Candelaria, F. Sancti Simeonis, Festum Candelarum, Festum Luminum; Occursus; Hypapanti, Purificatio Beatœ Maria; Ypanti. The old Almanacs did not neglect this day: one of them thus partly imitates the proverb :— "If Candlemas Day be fair and bright But if Candlemas Day be clouds and rain, There is a humorous proverb in Ray's collection, to the same effect: "The hind had as lief see his wife on the bier, As that Candlemas Day should be pleasant and clear." BOOK II. Candiemas tions. Among the atmospherical phenomena, from which the superstitious were accustomed to predict extraordinary events, it was impossible that thunder should escape judicial observation. Accordingly we find in some extracts published from Saxon manuscripts by Dr. Hicks in his Saxon catalogue, that "if it should thunder in the even-tide, it Superstibetokeneth the birth of a great man ;"—if at midnight, then it signifieth a great famine.”—Again, "If in the entering year, the first thunder happen on a Sunday, then it denoteth mortality in royal families (cyne bearna cpealm):— if it thunder on Saturday, then will be mortality of judges and governors."* In another manuscript we find that if it thunder in the month of January it bodeth great winds, and destruction of agricultural produce, pel gepænde eorde pæsrme & geriht:-in December, it bodeth a good year for husbandry, and peace and concord, ❝ribb y rehre.† Candlemas Day is so called from having been celebrated with many candles, and the name is as old as our Saxon predecessors, candel mærra,‡ if not much more ancient. In a poem, supposed to be the composition of John Lydgate, who lived about the reign of Henry the Sixth, and Chron. Saxon. ad An. 1014, &c. Dissect. Sax. Chron. p. 286. BOOK II. Candlemas Februa. bearing the refrain Ave Regina Coloræm,' the virgin herself is addressed as a light : "Haile Luminary and benynge Lanterne.* The tenants of monastic establishments frequently held their lands on the condition of furnishing a quantity of wax to make the candles, which were intended to be used in the celebration of this festival.+ Sprinkled with holy water and blessed, these candles were supposed to possess the power of repelling evil spirits : "Whose candelle burneth cleere and bright, a wonderous force and might They sure believe that neither storm nor tempest dare abide, Nor fearfull sprites that walk by night, nor hurt by frost and haile.”‡ This was the season, at which the Februa, a feast of purification and atonement was held anciently at Rome.§ That which was purified was called Februatum, and the month in which the purification took place, Februarius. This month was sacred to Juno, whose festival was celebrated on the first day, and hence she was called Februata Juno, as the Virgin was called Maria Purificata. The correspondence between the original pagan and subsequent Christian festival in all these points of similarity, synchronism, name, and design of institution, which are deemed sufficient in all cases to establish the affinity, if not identity * Harl. MSS. Codex. 2251, fo. 35, b. + Dr. Whitaker has printed an undated charter, which seems to belong to the commencement of the thirteenth century, and by which an abbot of Furness confirms to Sir Michael the Fleming, certain lands, formerly granted to his ancestor for his homage ("honore") and service, and for a pound of wax to make the abbot's candles in the festival of the Purification; "et pro un libra cere ad candelas abbatis faciendas in purificatione Sancte Marie."-Hist. Richm. Vol. II., p. 402. Barnabe Googe's Transl. of Regnum Papisticum, p. 47. 1570. "Februa Romani discere piamina patres Nunc quoque dant verbo plurima signa fidem." Ovid. Fast. Lib. II., v. 19. BOOK II. of religious observances, is among the most remarkable coincidences that have fallen under notice. The lights used in these festivals are unquestionable relics of Sabæism. Can lemas At Grammar Schools in Scotland, the scholars pay a candlemas gratuity, as they generally do in England a shrovetide cock-penny, according to their rank and fortune, from five shillings to as many pounds, when there is a keen competition for a badge of distinction, called the Candlemas Crown. He that pays most is king for six weeks, and during his reign, he is not only entitled to demand an afternoon's play for the scholars once a week, but he has also the royal privilege of remitting punishment.* The day of St. Blaise, (February 3,) the patron of the Woolcombers, is splendidly celebrated every seventh year, by a feast and procession of the masters and workmen in the woollen manufactories of Yorkshire.+ The same description of tradesmen, in Bedfordshire, anciently introduced into the sheep-shearing festivals, a personation of their patron bishop, who was accompanied by masquers, morris dancers and other holiday characters. A proverbial saying in Lancashire, "As drunk as blazes," is probably corrupted from "As drunk as Blaisers," which may have originated in the misconduct of some of the artisans in the septennial commemoration of their patron. However this may be, the phrase has travelled across the Atlantic: a magazine of 1832, extracted from an American newspaper, a humourous description of a military muster, during which the following conversation occurred: "Capting, I say! here's an engagement on the right flank" "You don't say so, Leftenint-what is it?" 66 Why Parks Lummis and George King are fighting like blazes." St.Blaise. This is the earliest day on which Shrove Tuesday can Shrove fall, as March 9, is the latest. It derives its distinctive Tuesday. • Sir John Sinclair, Stat. Acc. of Scotl. Vol. XIII., p. 2111. Leeds Mercury, Feb. 5, 1825, Feb. 4, 1832. Hone's Year Book, P. x. p. 1202. |