low it signifies wind rather than rain, and the like if they appear so at its setting.

5. If at sunrising or setting its rays appear contracted or shortened, and do not shine out bright, though the weather be not cloudy, it signifies rain rather than wind.

6. If before sunrising there appear some rays as forerunners, it signifies both wind and rain.

7. If the sun at its rising diffuses its rays through the clouds, the middle of the sun remaining still under clouds, it shall signify rain, especially if those beams break out downwards, that the sun appears as it were with a beard. But if the rays break forth out of the middle, or dispersed, and its exterior body, or the out parts of it, be covered with clouds, it foreshows great tempests both of wind and rain.

8. If the sun, when it rises, be encompassed with a circle, let wind be expected from that side on which the circle opens. But if the circle fall off all at one time it will be fair weather.

9. If at the setting of the sun there appears a white circle about it, it signifies some small storm the same night; if black or darkness, much wind the day following.

10. If the clouds look red at sunrising they are prognostics of wind; if at sunsetting, of a fair ensuing day.

11. If about the rising of the sun clouds do gather themselves about it, they foreshow rough storms that day; but if they be driven back from the rising towards the setting of the sun, they signify fair weather.

12. If at sunrising the clouds be dispersed from the sides of the sun, some southward, and some northward, though the sky be clear about the sun, it foreshows wind.

13. If the sun goes down in a cloud, it foreshows rain the next day; but if it rains at sunsetting it is a token of wind rather. But if the clouds seem to be as it were drawn towards the sun, it signifies both wind and storms.

14. If clouds at the rising of the sun seem not to encompass it, but to lie over it, as if they were about to eclipse it, they foreshow the rising of winds on that side as the clouds incline. And if they do this about noon, they signify both wind and rain.

15. If the clouds have encompassed the sun, the less light they leave it, and the lesser the orb of the sun appears, so much the more raging shall the tempest be; but if there appear a double or treble orb, as though there were two or three suns, the tempest will be so much the more violent for many days.

VOL. XIV.

U

16. New moons presage the dispositions of the air; but especially the fourth rising of it, as if it were a confirmed new moon. The full moons likewise do presage more than the days which come after.

17. By long observation the fifth day of the moon is feared by mariners for stormy.

18. If the new moon do not appear before the fourth day, it foreshows a troubled air for the whole month.

19. If the new moon, at her first appearance, or within a few days after, have its lower horn obscure or dusky, or any way blemished, it signifies stormy and tempestuous days before the full moon; if it be ill coloured in the middle, tempests will come about the full of the moon; if it be so about the upper part of the horn, they will be about the decreasing of the moon.

20. If at the fourth rising the moon appear bright, with sharp horns, not lying flat, nor standing upright, but in a middle kind of posture between both, it promises fair weather for the most part until the next new moon.

21. If at the same rising it be red, it portends winds; if dusky or black, rain; but, howsoever, it signifies nothing beyond the full moon.

22. An upright moon is almost always threatening and hurtful, but it chiefly portends winds; but if it have blunt horns, and as it were cut off short, it rather signifies rain.

23. If one horn of the moon be sharp and the other blunt, it signifies wind; if both be blunt, rain.

24. If a circle or halo appear about the moon, it signifies rain rather than wind, unless the moon stands directly within that circle, for then it signifies both.

25. Circles about the moon always foreshow winds on that side where they break; also a notable shining in some part of the circle, signifies winds from that part where the shining is.

26. If the circles about the moon be double or treble, they foreshow horrible and rough tempests, and especially if those circles be not whole, but spotted and divided.

27. Full moons, as concerning the colours and circles, do in a manner foreshow the same things, as the fourth rising, but more present, and not so long delayed.

28. Full moons use to be more clear than the other ages of the moon, and in winter use to be far colder.

29. The moon appearing larger at the going down of the sun, if it be splendent and not dusky, betokens fair weather for many days.

30. Winds almost continually follow the eclipses of the moon, and fair weather the eclipses of the sun; rain comes after neither.

31. From the conjunctions of any of the planets, but only the sun, you may expect winds both before and after; from their conjunctions with the sun, fair weather.

32. At the rising of the Pleiades and Hyades come showers of rain, but calm ones; after the rising of Arcturus and Orion, tempests.

33. Returning and shooting stars (as we call them) signify winds to come from that place whence they run, or are shot; but if they fly from several, or contrary parts, it is a sign of great approaching storms of wind and rain.

34. When such little stars as those which are called Aselli are not seen generally all over the sky, it foreshows great tempests and rain within some few days; but if they be seen in some places, and not in other some, it foreshows winds only, and that suddenly.

35. The sky, when it is all over bright, in a new moon, or at the fourth rising of it, portends fair weather for many days; if it be all over dark, it foreshows rain, if partly dark, and partly fair, it portends wind of that side where the darkness is seen; but if it grow dark on a sudden, without either cloud or mist to dim the brightness of the stars, there are great and rough tempests a breeding.

36. If an entire circle encloseth a planet, or any of the greater stars, it foreshows wind; if it be a broken circle, wind from those parts where the circle is deficient.

37. When the thunder is more than the lightnings, there will be great winds; but if the lightnings be thick amidst the thundering, it foreshows thick showers, with great drops.

38. Morning thunders signify wind, midday thunders

rain.

39. Bellowing thunders, which do as it were pass along, presage winds, and those which make a sharp and unequal noise, presage storms both of wind and rain.

40. When it lightens in a clear sky, winds are at hand, and rain from the part where it lightens; but if it lightens in diverse parts, there will follow cruel and horrid tempests.

41. If it lightens in the cold quarters of the heavens, namely, the east and north, hail will follow; if in the warmer, namely, south and west, we shall have rain and a warm sky.

42. Great heats after the summer solstice, and commonly

with thunder and lightning, and if those come not, there will be wind and rain for many days.

43. The globe of flame, which the ancients called Castor, which is seen by mariners and seafaring men at sea, if there be but one, presages a cruel tempest (Castor is the dead brother), and much more if it stick not close to the mast, but dances up and down; but if they be twins (and Pollux the living brother be present), and that when the tempest is high, it is a good presage; but if there be three (namely, if Helen, the plague of all things, come in), it will be a more cruel tempest: so that one seems to show the indigested matter of the storm; two, a digested and ripe matter; three or more, an abundance that will hardly be dispersed.

44. If we see the clouds drive very fast when it is a clear sky, we must look for winds from that way from which the clouds are driven; but if they wheel and tumble up together, when the sun draws near to that part in which they are tumbled up together, they will begin to scatter and sever; and if they part most towards the north, it betokens wind; if towards the south, rain.

45. If at sunsetting there arise black and dark clouds, they presage rain; if against the sun, namely, in the east, the same night; if near the sun in the west, the next day, with winds.

46. The clearing of a cloudy sky, if it begins against the wind which then blows, signifies clear fair weather; with the wind it betokens nothing, but the thing remains uncertain.

47. There are sometimes seen several as it were chambers, or joined stories of clouds one above the other (so as Gilbertus affirms, he hath seen five of them together) and always the blackest are lowermost, though sometimes it appears otherwise, because the whitest do more allure the sight. A double conjunction of stories, if it be thick, shows approaching rain (especially if the lower cloud seem as it were big with child); more conjunctions presage continuance of rain.

48. If clouds spread abroad like fleeces of wool here and there, they foreshow tempests; but if they lie one a top of another, like scales or tiles, they presage drought and clear

weather.

49. Feathered clouds, like to the boughs of a palm tree, or the flowers of a rainbow, are prognostics of present rain, or immediately to follow.

50. When hills and hillocks look as though they wore

caps, by reason of the clouds lying upon them, and encompassing them, it presages imminent tempests.

51. Amber, or gold colour clouds before sunsetting, that have as it were gilded helms or borders, after the sun begins to be quite down, foreshow fair clear weather.

52. Grayish, and as it were clay-coloured clouds, show that rain with wind are drawing on.

53. Some petty cloud showing itself suddenly, having not been seen before, and all the sky clear about it, especially if it be in the west, and about noon, shows there is a storm a coming.

54. Clouds and mists ascending, and going upward, presage rain, and that this be done suddenly, so that they be as it were sucked up, they presage rain, but if they fall and reside in the valleys, they presage fair weather.

55. A big cloud growing white, which the ancients called a white tempest, in summer is a forerunner of small hail, like comfits, in winter, snow.

56. A fair and clear autumn presages a windy winter; a windy winter, a rainy spring; a rainy spring, a clear summer; a clear summer, a windy autumn. So that the year (as the proverb goes) is seldom its own debtor, and the same order of seasons will scarce happen two years together.

57. Fires upon the hearth when they look paler than they are accustomed, and make a murmuring noise within themselves, do presage tempests. And if the flame rises bending and turning, it signifies wind chiefly; and when the snuffs of lamps and candles grow like mushrooms with broad heads, it is a sign of rainy weather.

58. Coals shining bright, and sparkling overmuch, signify wind.

59. When the superficies of the sea is calm and smooth in the harbour, and yet murmurs within itself, though it doth not swell, signifies wind.

60. The shores resounding in a calm, and the sound of the sea itself, with a clear noise, and a certain echo, heard plainer and further than ordinary, presages winds.

61. If in a calm and smooth sea we espy froth here and there, or white circles or bubbles of water, they are prognostics of winds; and if these presages be very apparent, they foreshow rough tempests.

62. If in a rough sea there appear a shining froth (which they call sea-lungs), it foreshows a lasting tempest for many days.