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 LIBRARY 
 
 THE 
 WORDSWORTH COLLECTION 
 
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 Cornell University 
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 The original of tiiis book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924104104306 
 
DESCANT 
 
 UPON 
 
 WEATHEE-WISDOM. 
 
 By - 
 
 LONDON 
 
 LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMANS, 
 
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A DESCANT. 
 
 ********^ c ^Jie]^ the facts 
 which are the groundwork of a science are 
 obvious^ and when the motive which urges 
 men to the investigation of them is very power- 
 ful^ we may always expect that such a science 
 will be so quickly perfected in the most early 
 times as to leave little for after ages to add.'* 
 I wont maintain that Sir James threw a furtive 
 glance at the weather when he made that 
 remark^ but how reasonably may it be turned 
 upon the subject by some such adaptation as 
 this — ^ When we find that from the most early 
 times men have felt themselves urged by power- 
 ful motives to investigate whatever facts might 
 
 * Vol. i. p. 121. 
 
2 A DESCANT UPON 
 
 seem to acquaint them beforehand with the com- 
 ing weather, and yet have not advanced one step 
 in the science, we may safely conclude that it is 
 no science at all for them, but an unknowable 
 matter from which the sooner they withdraw 
 their attention the better/* 
 
 Such a course however will hardly be followed 
 by the natives of this grumbling island, who 
 among the many privileges they enjoy seem to 
 prize none more highly than that of j)erpetually 
 scrutinizing and finding fault with the climate 
 which it has pleased Providence to assign to 
 it. I firmly believe that if that ^ shifting of 
 the poles askance' were righted, to which some 
 say the variableness we repine at is owing, we 
 should still grumble on at being deprived of 
 the opportunity of showing how piously we can 
 
 * John Mills Esq. F.R. S. author of a luminous essay on 
 THE -WEATHER, Is of opuiion that men knew more about it 
 formerly than they do now. The following are his own 
 happy Avords — * The ancients had certainly arrived at a 
 more perfect knowledge of this article than we are possessed 
 of/ ESSAY, 2nd Edit. p. 79, 
 
The Editor of the following Fragment begs leave to 
 relate in few words the accident by which it came into 
 his hands and his reason for publishing it. 
 
 He chanced last autumn to be walking across the 
 sands in the bay of Oxwich when he picked up what 
 seemed from its remaining bit of blue cover to be a 
 boy s mutilated copy-book, but proved on examination 
 to be a rambling treatise full of an ti -popular (and 
 therefore presumably wrong) opinions upon what is 
 therein called ^weather-wisdom.' Things of little in- 
 trinsic value are often considered of great importance 
 by the owner, and the Editor thinking this might be 
 one of them went to some expense in trying to make 
 known to the Author how he might recover his pro- 
 perty. But either the notice never met his eye, or he 
 did not care to acknowledge his bantling, or he did not 
 think it worth the sum with which he must have reim- 
 bursed the finder if he had reclaimed it. If the last be 
 
his opinion the Editor for once concurs with the Author, 
 and yet prints the tract at length in the hope of reim- 
 bursing himself; for he is assured, by some who are 
 better acquainted with the present taste for literature 
 than he can pretend to be, that a book s being full of 
 nonsense by no means militates against its selling re- 
 markably well. 
 
 As the leaves of the MS. are numbered it would 
 appear that only one is missing at the beginning, but 
 how many have been lost at the end the Editor has no 
 means of knowing. What he has printed by way of 
 conclusion was found upon a loose scrap of paper in the 
 same hand-wiiting as the rest, and as it had no con- 
 nection with the pages between which it was placed it 
 may suitably close an immethodical performance as 
 
 A POSTLIMINIARY DEDICATION. 
 
WEATHER-WISDOM. 3 
 
 contrive to turn a great grievance into a source 
 of endless amusement. 
 
 But although it is we of this nation^ 
 
 Rich, ill expedients for inquietude, 
 
 who are principally distinguished by fondness 
 for descanting on the present weather and by 
 indulging in vain speculations concerning what 
 is to come^ it is a practice which did not spring 
 up with us^ for there are few useless pursuits 
 to which men have addicted themselves that can 
 be traced to a remoter antiquity^ or have met 
 with a more constant condemnation. 
 
 From the First of Books we learn that the 
 earliest times had their ^astrologers^ stargazers^ 
 and monthly prognosticators/ and that they who 
 were inclined to trust them were forewarned 
 that these liars and diviners mad ^ should be as 
 stubble.' The augurial and tripudiary divina- 
 tions among later and gentile nations, though 
 they pointed to undertakings and events differ- 
 ent from those to which our modern soothsayers 
 apply theirs, often had reference to the coming 
 
4 A DESCANT UPON 
 
 weather and involved predictions respecting it. 
 A worthy Gloucestershire yeoman of my ac- 
 quaintance^ who reads Greek like a college tutor, 
 tells me that in the geoponica he observes the 
 same anxiety about the weather, the same seeking 
 for prognosticks concerning it and the same dis- 
 appointment from relying upon them, which is 
 displayed by those who give themselves up to 
 this fruitless study in our own day. 
 
 In one of Lucian's dialogues we find Icarome- 
 nippus at Jupiter's whispering-place, pitying the 
 ruler of the skies for the dilemma into which he 
 is thrown by a couple of countrymen ; one of 
 them directing a petition to his right ear that 
 not a drop of rain may fall till the harvest is 
 over, while the other is horhig his left for imme- 
 diate showers to bring up a backward crop of 
 cabbages. Cicero seems very much inclined to 
 join in the laugh which he takes for granted a 
 couple of augurs must have had whenever they 
 met in private, and could freely talk over the 
 credulity of the blockheads who believed in 
 
WEATHER- WISDOM, ^ 
 
 them * Tacitus (old Forsyth) remarks with his 
 usual sagacity that these conjurers will go on 
 blundering, and meeting with implicit believers, 
 to the end of time ; and John Partridge, Fran- 
 cis Moore, and Poor Robin, have upheld the 
 truth of his observation for the last century or 
 two.f A few years ago however, when the an- 
 tiquity of anything began to be considered a 
 proof of its vileness, even these popular worthies 
 
 * That thought of Cicero's brings to mind a similar one 
 entertained by Bp. Hall. Having given two examples of later 
 deceptions, he subjoms — *Both these jugglers smile upon 
 one another while they exhibit these reliques to their people ; 
 and now even the silly vulgar begin (not without indigna- 
 tion) to descry their cozenage/ no peace with rome. 
 Sec. xxi. 
 
 t One of these seers is immortalized in the Rape of the 
 Lock so gracefully constellated ; — 
 
 This Partridge soon shall view in cloudless skies 
 When next he looks through Galileo's eyes ; 
 And hence th' egregious vmard shall foredoom 
 The fate of Louis and the fall of Rome. 
 
 Another of the craft owes some of his notoriety to a lantern 
 tied to a boy's kite — 
 
 This Sidrophel by chance espy'd, 
 
 And with amazement staring wide, 
 
 Bless us, quoth he, what dreadful wonder 
 
 Is that appears in heaven yonder ! 
 
 B 
 
6 A DESCANT UPON 
 
 seemed falling into disrepute. Thinks I to my- 
 self we may pick up a crum of comfort from the 
 insane love of mutability that now prevails^ for 
 who knows but in this exploding age talking 
 about the weather may go out of fashion? not 
 from a perception that the practice is abominably 
 foolish and tiresome^ but merely because it has 
 lasted so long. 
 
 No such consequence followed the temporary 
 deposition of the three ancients^ for a weather- 
 table was thereupon issued under the authority 
 of three moderns, ^ constructed upon philosophi- 
 cal considerations' and adapted to the advanced 
 state of society. This lucid table, ^ascribed to 
 the celebrated Dr. Herschel/ was said to be re- 
 vised (oh fie ! could it want revision ?) by the 
 learned Dr. Adam Clarke, and improved (worse 
 and worse !) by the ingenious Dr. Kirwan. It 
 was qualified with the conditionary ifs and huts 
 and had all the roundaboutation of its predeces- 
 sors, but wanting their occasional boldness it 
 proved ^caviare to the general.' 
 
WEATHER-WISDOM. 7 
 
 This pompous Doctorum Variorum production 
 is now consigned to the end of the almanack^ 
 and placed close to the stamp and legacy duties ; 
 whereby is delicately hinted to such as put any 
 faith in it that they would do well to set about 
 arranging their worldly affairs before their un- 
 derstanding quite forsakes them. 
 
 In justice to the III Doctors it ought to be 
 mentioned that there is no evidence of their 
 having derived the slightest profit from their 
 own table ; and herein they did but imitate that 
 renowned cabalist Christophorus Theophrastus 
 Paracelsus Bumbastus^ who having discovered 
 the way to make a fairy^ had the courage to 
 abstain from using the receipt himself but left it 
 behind him for the benefit of posterity.* 
 
 The declension of Herschel and his satellites 
 
 * Dog-eared almanacks may be allowed, but let a man 
 beware of the consequence of doubling down tbe leaves of 
 any other book; — *I recollect at Dr. Farmer's sale the leaf 
 which preserved this receipt forcibly folded down by the 
 learned commentator ; from which we tnust infer the credit he 
 gave to the experiment' I curios, of lit. 2nd Ser. vol. iii. p. 14. 
 
8 ADESCANTUPON 
 
 gave room for the uprising of Mr. Murphy^ 
 whose splendid audacities will not be quickly- 
 forgotten. He was soon followed by a troop of 
 imitators in town and country whom it would be 
 wearisome to enumerate. One of them however^ 
 who enchained the attention of the inhabitants 
 of a great city (not the first in the kingdom) for 
 quarter of a winter^ owes to his lucky stars a 
 name that will save him from oblivion^ for how 
 can the catalogue of these gentry be wound up 
 more worthily than with a pshaw ! 
 
 The amazing number of grammars manufac- 
 tured for the purpose of teaching Englishmen 
 English proves that there is no good one^ or 
 (perhaps) that none whatever is needed; the 
 best way of acquiring a knowledge of our na- 
 tive language being to follow the example of 
 Dan Homer and John Bunyan, who seem to 
 have pickt up theirs without using any. Every 
 old woman in the land has a receipt that will 
 "be sure to get rid of your cold, though not 
 one of them can tell how to get rid of her 
 
WEATHER-WISDOM. 9 
 
 own. What inference can be drawn from the 
 multitudinous remedies proffered for the cure of 
 this disorder ? Why, that none has been found 
 out; for were it otherwise the memory of it 
 would never have been lost. We may as safely 
 infer the non-existence of any rules for discover- 
 ing to-morrow's weather, from the vast variety 
 that have been proposed for the purpose; the 
 sagacity of myriads, age after age, could hardly 
 have been exerted in vain if directed to any 
 thing which we could reasonably hope by search- 
 ing to find out.* 
 
 But in truth, not only nobody knows what 
 weather is coming next, but nobody believes that 
 he knows any such thing. I never met with any 
 of these lunaticks so mad as to bet two to one 
 that they could tell what it would be four and 
 
 * A sensible person may sometimes draw profitable con- 
 clusions from the past weather, but lie will take special 
 care not to found any upon what is to come. Dr. Buckland 
 tells us that * Mr. Dickinson, who supplies the paper for 
 stamped letter-covers, wisely regulates his Spring contracts 
 by the quantity of water in his Winter rain gauge.' ad- 
 dress AT SOUTHAMPTON, 27th July, 1844. 
 
10 A DESCANT UPON 
 
 twenty hours after lajdng the wager. One who 
 was esteemed a very successful foUow^er of the 
 occult science^ was cured of his devotion to it by 
 looking over a register which he had privately 
 kept of the fate of his own predictions. He had 
 set down some seven hundi^ed^ and upon casting 
 up his account found that about 350 of these 
 had been flatly contradicted^ and about 350 had 
 not. It was clear then that if he had in every 
 case reversed his prediction he would have been 
 right just as often^ and that as happy a result 
 might have been looked for from the mere doc- 
 trine of chances if he had avoided the trouble his 
 calculations must have given him, and only said 
 ^wet' and ^dry' alternately. 
 
 This consideration taught the honest chronicler 
 a useful lesson upon the vanity of his favourite 
 science, for he is not ashamed to declare that the 
 year when he smashed his glass (the glasses the 
 Teetotallers denounce are not more perfidious) 
 and burnt his ledger, brought him sounder sleep 
 at night and better spirits by day than he had 
 
WEATHER- WISDOM. 11 
 
 known during the seven which he devoted to 
 that horrible registration.* Interpret the rise 
 and fall of the mercury for a while just contrary 
 to the usual way^ and you will be amazed at the 
 success of the plan. I once tried it myself for a 
 whole season^ and all the people in the parish 
 took me for a conjurer^ owing to the number of 
 good hits that I made.f 
 
 * * Let us cease to consider what may never happen, and 
 what when it shall happen will laugh at human speculation.' 
 This is very well said by Rasselas, and may move those who 
 are more touched by prose than poetry. They who are of a 
 different temperament will find the thought beautifully ex- 
 panded in that passage of Comus which begins with 
 
 Peace brother ! be not over exquisite 
 To cast the fashion of uncertain evils. 
 
 t So many great discoveries have been found out by ac- 
 cident that it is possible I may have stumbled in a frolick 
 upon the right way of construing the indications of the 
 barometer. Tell me, Sir John Davis, how the Chinese 
 manage the matter ? They affirm that the needle points to 
 the south, and as it has two ends probably one of them does. 
 'Tis to be hoped the rogues have anticipated me ; for it will 
 be a most provoking circumstance if I who am penning a 
 descant upon Weatherwisdom for the sake of exposing its 
 hollo wness should after all be * cheated into fame' as the 
 illustrious teacher of it ! 
 
12 A DESCANT UPON 
 
 But positively from our desperate sensitive- 
 ness we are become sucli barometrical machines 
 ourselves as to want no manufactured ones. 
 Hear what an amiable devotee says on the point; 
 ^ Inured from our cradles to every vicissitude 
 in a climate more various than any other ^ we are 
 so well admonished of every change of the atmo- 
 sphere by our bodily feelings as hardly to have 
 any need of a weather-glass to mark them.' 
 Very true dear valetudinary! and yet there are 
 more of these needless instruments to be met 
 with in England (didst thou not consult one of 
 them occasionally?) than can be found all the 
 rest of the world over. Much rather would I 
 be conditioned like thine own waggoner than 
 endued with thy pneumatick sensibility — 
 
 The learned finger never need explore 
 HU.S vigorous pulse ; and the unhealthful East 
 That breathes the spleen, and searches every bone 
 Of the infirm, is v^holesome au' to him. 
 
 Yet hast thou made ample atonement for thy 
 tender railing against thy native land in those 
 other dutiful lines ; — 
 
WEATHER-WISDOM. 13 
 
 Though thy clime 
 Be fickle, and thy year, most part, deformed 
 With dripping rains, or withered by a frost, 
 I would not yet exchange thy sullen skies 
 And fields without a flower, for warmer France 
 With all her vines ; nor for Ausonia's groves 
 Of golden fruitage, and her myrtle bowers.* 
 
 Another Delicate so constantly wrapt himself 
 up within doors that he could only be brought 
 to admit that our ^climate is delightful when 
 framed and glazed.' To this habit of staying 
 at home we may owe the great number of fasci- 
 
 * What is thus acquiesced in by one patriot-poet is shewn 
 to be advantageous by another ; 
 
 * How erring oft the judgment in its hate 
 Or fond desire ! Those slow- descending showers. 
 Those hovering fogs, that bathe our growing vales 
 In deep November (loathed by trifling Gaul 
 Effeminate) are gifts the Pleiads shed, 
 Britannia's handmaids. As the beverage falls 
 Her hills rejoice, her valleys laugh and sing/ 
 
 dyer's fleece. Book I. 
 
 The green of an English landscape is a colour unknown to 
 the rest of Europe. 
 
 A great Poet who still lives (Heaven bless him in both 
 worlds !) said to Mrs. Hemans in his own characteristic man- 
 ner — *I would not part with the mists that spiritualize our 
 mountains for all the clear skies of Italy.* 
 
14 A DESCANT UPON 
 
 nating letters wliicli he too has bequeathed rts. 
 Sprightly and elegant as they are^ upon compar- 
 ing the two collections we are tempted to exclaim 
 (but that not always) 
 
 Horace was decent, Cowper had a heart ! 
 
 'Tis very pleasing during a great drought or 
 long continued rain to hear it predicted that it 
 will last for a month longer^ the predictioners 
 although fortified by the glass being generally 
 confuted wdthin a day or two * I was once 
 told (it was on the 9th of May) that April having 
 been dry throughout we should be sure to have 
 
 * Note by the Editor, The author ought in fairness to 
 have given Mr. John Mills's explemation of such seeming 
 contradictions ; * When the quicksilver falls very low with- 
 out any corresponding change in our island we may be sure 
 there is a violent storm at some distant place ^ which accounts 
 for a false prognostick often imjustly laid to the charge of the 
 barometer.' essay, p. 85. 
 
 This clears up those puzzling fluctuations of the glass 
 which often take place during a long continuance of settled 
 weather ; and justifies the constant rise of the mercury from 
 the 10th to the 16th of November last, though that happened 
 to be the wettest week of the whole year. 
 
WE AT HER -WISDOM. 15 
 
 no rain until September. At 5 o'clock next 
 morning down it came in pail-fulls^ such as tliat 
 well-known ubiquitary ^ the oldest person in the 
 neighbourbood' could no where call to mind. 
 The well-deserved praise awarded to the inqui- 
 sitive Zadig may be given to our fond scrutineers 
 of the weather with equal propriety ; ^ He then 
 turned his attention to metaphysicks^ and having 
 studied the science for a long time with great 
 assiduity^ he became as thoroughly acquainted 
 with it as the profoundest philosophers of the 
 realm — which is as much as to say that he knew 
 very little about the matter.'* 
 
 It is a great pity that the adventurers in this 
 maddest of all possible subjects of speculation 
 should not be made to suffer in their pockets^ as 
 even those wary persons sometimes do who re- 
 strict themselves to the more reasonable specu- 
 
 * Purloined from Butler — 
 
 * He knew what's what, and that's as high 
 As metaphysick wit can fly.' 
 
16 A DESCANT UPON 
 
 lation in vogue.* Let but a sixpenny fine be 
 levied by the Crown for every untrue prediction 
 concerning the weather^ and one of two"^ conse- 
 quences (both good) will be sure to follow; — 
 either the number of false prophets in this island 
 will be marvellously thinned^ or long before that 
 happy reign shall be over which I trust she is 
 destined to enjoy ^ her Majesty will have it in her 
 power to apply (what has never been asked for) 
 an honest sponge to the national debt. 
 
 It has been said very prettily by Du Bartas, 
 
 * I'll ne'er believe that the least flower that prankes " 
 Our garden-borders, or the common banlts, 
 And the least stone that in her warming lap 
 Our kind nurse Earth doth courteously wrap, 
 Hath some peculiar virtue of its own, 
 And that the glorious stars of heaven have none ;* 
 
 nor will I^ excellent Du Bartas^ but neither will 
 
 * It is painful to hear Railways traduced as though they 
 had been of no real service to the nation. It is true that 
 they threaten to unparadise England, but there is one unde- 
 niable benefit for which we are indebted to them — every 
 now and then they prevent the weather from being the most 
 detestable subject of common conversation. 
 
WEATHER- WISDOM. 17 
 
 I believe that our almanack makers and other 
 Sidrophels and Whackums are the people to 
 find out "what that virtue is.* The general false- 
 hood of their announcements is sufficiently proved 
 by the universal wonderment which is felt when- 
 ever any thing they have pretended to foretel 
 happens to come to pass. It stands alone like 
 Seneca's supposed prediction of the discovery of 
 America. 
 
 * A friend of mine who is a great book- worm tells me 
 that he once saw a copy of Hudibras which had in it some- 
 where or other the followmg lines — 
 
 He made an instnunent to kndw, 
 
 If the moon shme at full or no ; 
 
 That wou'd, as soon as e'er she shone, strait, 
 
 Whether 'twere day or night demonstrate. 
 
 He did invent the weather-glass, 
 AVliich tells you (when 'tis come to pass) 
 ^Vliat any fool, as I'm a sinner, 
 May know by looking out o' the windore. 
 
 I thank my friend for his information, though a question 
 with which it was accompanied is a little embarrassing ; 
 * After all (said he) why should one ology that infers a man's 
 disposition from the configuration of the planets which took 
 place at his birth, be more preposterous than another ology 
 that pretends to find it out from the configuration of his 
 noddle which Avas settled about the same time ? ' 
 
18 A DESCANT UPON 
 
 Astrology however^ though somewhat less in 
 fashion is not so absurd as moonology, the stars 
 having long been noted for their stedfastness, 
 while the ruling planet (the great Diana) of the 
 moonologers is the very emblem of mutability, 
 for she not only never wears the same face two 
 nights following, but every month in the year 
 changes herself altogether.* That Hruth is not 
 to be spoken at all times' is a vile maxim, and it 
 would be a shame to insinuate that our profes- 
 sors worship one luminary only; for whoever 
 has an opportunity of observing how they pro- 
 secute their studies will find that they contrive 
 to draw inspiration from another, and that the 
 MOON only shares their devotions with the 
 
 WEATHERCOCK ! 
 
 * Though how the wind comes, and whither he goes, 
 There's never a scholar in England knows.' 
 
 * John Mills Esq. E, E.. S. albeit of a very prognostical 
 turn of mind himself, cannot refrain from applying a little 
 lunar caustic to his half -brethren the moonites. — *When an 
 opinion once obtains that a cl^ange of the weather happens 
 at certain times, the change is expected, and as often as it 
 
WEATHER -WISDOM. 19 
 
 But the truth is, as to the point in question, 
 (and a hundred more quite out of the question) 
 our lot is fallen to us in the best of all fortunate 
 ISLANDS. The merry monarch ^who never said 
 a foolish thing/ said a very wise one when he 
 pronounced the climate of England the most 
 enviable in Europe, because no other affords so 
 many days in the year, and so many hours in 
 the day, that can be agreeably spent in the open 
 air. His constant cheerfulness may partly be 
 ascribed to his having held this opinion, and 
 they who adopt it will find their own stock 
 speedily augmented. If we think of his vices 
 let us consider how long (but reluctantly) he 
 tarried in France, and whether their despicable 
 fondness for dwelling there now tends to make 
 our present countrymen a jot better? 
 
 Oh. fruitful Britain ! thou wert doubtless meant 
 The nurse of fools to stock the continent. 
 
 takes place the remembrance of it remains; but we soon- 
 forget the number of times it fails, unless the mind is as- 
 sisted by a faithful journal.' ESSAY ON THE WEATHER, p. 42^ 
 
20 A DESCANT UPON 
 
 Some phrases have been so happily corned as 
 to defy translation altogether; and some there 
 are which can be rendered but into one lan- 
 guage more. Nulla dies sine linea can only be 
 done into English; it means ^a fig for the wea- 
 ther ! take a long walk every day.' Any one 
 who has not directed his attention to the subject 
 will be surprized to find how seldom it rains at 
 any given hour of the twenty-four ; thus^ if he 
 should not have the whole of the day at his 
 command^ he may yet fix upon some one part of 
 it for statedly obeying the excellent injunction 
 just translated^ and rarely suffer more than tri- 
 fling inconvenience from so doing. 
 
 It happens to be in my power to offer such a 
 remarkable attestation in support of this position^ 
 that I do not feel at liberty to withhold it. From 
 leading a too indolent life (politely called seden- 
 tary) I was formerly a victim to torturing head- 
 ache.* One morning my good Genius inspired 
 
 * Not a martyr, for that would imply such a ioilli7ig en- 
 diu'ance of pain as very few of us are chargeable with. 
 
WEATHER-WISDOM. 21 
 
 me with a resolution to establish a practice of 
 walking before breakfast. A single month's ad- 
 herence to the plan was attended with benefit ; 
 I followed it for three^ and my headache was 
 gone. I now began to like the practice and 
 discovered one day that I had pursued it for a 
 twelvemonth. 
 
 That monster Custom, who aU sense doth eat 
 Of habits evil, is angel yet in this, 
 That to the use of what is fair and good 
 He likewise gives a frock or livery. 
 Which aptly is put on. 
 
 This frock or livery did I put on every morning 
 for sixteen years without a single interruption^ 
 and no more thought of plaguing the barometer 
 with the usual questions^ than of asking the ther- 
 mometer to tell me if I was warm enough. I 
 have no record to produce of the weather during 
 that long period^ for I never meditated such 
 persistency as I was permitted to accompHsh^ 
 but many a day have I looked back with sur- 
 prize at the remoteness of my last uncomfortable 
 
 D 
 
22 A DESCANT UPON 
 
 mornings and King Charles's remark meets with 
 a grateful response in my breast. 
 
 Many worthy men who pay undue attention 
 to atmospherick changes^ become querulous and 
 unconfiding in a degree of which they themselves 
 are by no means so thoroughly aware as those 
 who have the discomfort of listening to their 
 wailings. 'Twere well if they would ponder a 
 remark of good Bishop Hall's ; ^The wise pro- 
 vidence of God hath so contrived his earthy and 
 us^ that he hath fitted our bodies to our chme^ 
 and the native sustenance of the place unto our 
 bodies.'* When we consider the Sender what 
 can be more unpleasing to a rightly attuned ear 
 than the phrase ^bad weather?' Yet it is con- 
 tinually let fall from lips that are never opened 
 irreverently upon other subjects. Bad weather! 
 Who will say there has been any since the flood? 
 who will dare to say there was any then ? I 
 have known the words innocently coupled 
 
 * QUO vADis. Sec. vi. 
 
WEATHER -WISDOM. 23 
 
 together in only one instance; when a man 
 complaining of the frequent falsifications of his 
 instrument^ was answered by the Italian from 
 whom he had bought it — ^Indeed Siguier^ to 
 tell you the truths it has been very bad weather 
 for the glass lately/* 
 
 It is commonly said that the farmers are a 
 race of people never satisfied with the weather^ 
 but my experience tells me that as ready an ac- 
 quiescence and contentment with what comes is 
 felt by them as by other classes^ and that they 
 appreciate a boon more correctly and with more 
 fervour .f I met with a proof of this one day 
 that for a moment ruffled my philosophy. I 
 
 was walking over B Down (after breakfast) 
 
 without cloak or umbrella^ but equipt in a new 
 
 * Perhaps my readers (sliould I ever plane these rough 
 thoughts smooth, and ask for any) will think the phrase 
 may be lawfully applied to one other occasion — when ten 
 tempestuous days keeping me within doors somewhat more 
 than usual, and the few books in my carpet-bag being run 
 through, I employed myself in cooking up this gallimaufry ? 
 
 t ' My prayer goes with the husbandman's ; I desire 
 every thing in its proper season.' sib, thomas brownEc 
 
24 A DESCANT UPON 
 
 hat^ when a pelting storm, more longed for than 
 expected, overtook me. The rustic who held 
 open the gate of the farm house to which I was 
 going, said to me as I passed through ^a nice 
 drop of rain Sir ! ' This, to a man wet to the 
 skin, and with a new hat flopping over his 
 shoulders like an old oilcase, did seem a rather 
 inopportune expression of gratitude. But the 
 clown was right, for he thought of the general 
 good while I was absorbed by the particular in- 
 convenience. Perhaps the only reflection which 
 that day's rain brought to a thousand people in 
 the town where my hatter lives was this — that it 
 made the streets very dirty and kept a number 
 of ladies at home who ought to be out shopping. 
 It must be confessed that repinings in the 
 country, when they occur, appear more oflfensive 
 than in town, where there is so much to take oflf 
 attention from that divine hand which one would 
 think can never be unperceived amid natural 
 scenes. Just as the foUies of the bibliomaniac 
 are more sickening than those of unbookish men. 
 
WEATHER-WISDOM. 25 
 
 because he is supposed to be so much better ac- 
 quainted than they are with the lore that ought 
 to make him wiser. 
 
 There are nervous folks as they are called 
 (being utterly nerveless) who hearing a rap at 
 the door^ exclaim ^ Bless us ! who can that pos- 
 sibly be?' and are in a perfect fidget till the 
 stupid^ sleepy, lazy, loitering servant (knowing 
 their impatience) hurries in quite breathless to 
 inform them. And some who upon receiving a 
 letter with a strange postmark twirl it about in 
 a pet, because until the wax renders up its trust 
 they are unable to guess who in the world it 
 comes from. All these sensitives, as well as the 
 sad expectants of that wretched weather which 
 they may never see, should call to mind Dr. 
 Johnson's reply when he was told that an un- 
 promising man who was introduced to him would 
 improve as the evening advanced — ^ Sir I can 
 wait.' 
 
 They who have no real evils to complain of 
 know how to make fictitious ones answer their 
 
26 A DESCANT UPON 
 
 purpose ; and the grumblers at the lack of sun- 
 shine or rain are the first to discover^ the mo- 
 ment it is granted^ a number of ways in which 
 it may possibly do mischief. This perverse 
 ingenuity is sufiiciently annoying^ but it is still 
 more so to hear some of those querulous persons 
 laud a fine day which they have chosen to take 
 under their patronage. Forgetful (how I love 
 the delicate-hearted creature who first had the 
 courage to say so!) that ^comparisons are odious/ 
 they lug in their praise of to-day by disparaging 
 yesterday^ and bestow their stingy suffrage as if 
 they were paying a compliment^ or performing 
 some act of benevolence. This graciousness 
 reminds one of the exceedingly well-bred and 
 considerate people who having no need to go to 
 church on their own account^ go there merely 
 for the sake of setting a good example to others, 
 or out of civility to the parson. 
 
 If a batch of our misery-manufacturers should 
 do anything else worthy of transportation, let us 
 hope the judge will not be so merciless as to 
 
WEATHER-WISDOM. 37 
 
 send them to Australia; for there^ being debarred 
 from their old topic of consolation^ the weight of 
 the punishment designed by the law would be 
 doubled by the insuiFerable serenity of the 
 climate. 
 
 So many knowable and pleasant subjects lie 
 in our path that we may well renounce the per- 
 plexing and fruitless study of those that are hid 
 from our eyes ; 
 
 Into the future times wliy should we pry, 
 And seek to antedate our misery ? 
 
 We are at any rate bound to leave over-solicitude 
 about the weather^ to ^such of our brethren as 
 have the misfortune to dissent from the Church 
 of England.'* The church never makes use of 
 the word^ except in a special collect which she 
 
 * That mild and compassionate phrase occurs in one of 
 Queen Anne' s first speeches to parliament. Her Maj esty had 
 just before used language signally judicious in replying to 
 an address from the Bishops and Clergy — *I hope your con- 
 currence in this very dutiful address is a good presage of 
 your union in aU other matters ; which is very desirable for 
 my service and the welfare of the church/ kennett on im- 
 propriations, p. 350. 
 
28 A DESCANT UPON 
 
 reserves for extraordinary occasions when we 
 may have been visited with a plague of rain and 
 waters. In general the supplication in the litany, 
 that in due time we may enjoy the fruits of the 
 earth, is quite sufficient, as it involves a prayer 
 for seasonable weather without which they could 
 not be brought forth.* 
 
 How dreadful would be incertitude with re- 
 spect to the ebb and flow of that tide which daily 
 lashes and recedes from our shores ! Still more 
 calamitous might be ignorance concerning the 
 return of the seasons ; and they follow one an- 
 other in perpetual round, making through earth 
 grateful vicissitude. Exact and daily informa- 
 tion of what weather may be at hand, is not 
 required, and the Father of the rain and Begetter 
 of the drops of dew hath not imparted it ; the 
 subject is one whereon 
 
 Heaven from all creatures hides tlie book of fate, 
 All but tlie page prescribed, its present state. 
 
 * Still raise for good the supplicating voice. 
 But leave to Heaven the measure and the choice. 
 
WEATHER-WISDOM. 29 
 
 And in this, as in other instances, we have as 
 much knowledge as we need though not so much 
 as we covet; for no one will contend that the 
 world at large or even his own particular com- 
 munity has suffered calamity for want of more. 
 They who cherish ^the sunshine of the breast' 
 will find plenty out of doors, but the peevish 
 and importunate can never be satisfied;* let them 
 pretend what they may they have a constant 
 eye to their own personal convenience, and we 
 may easily imagine the confusion that would 
 ensue if their selfish and contrarious prayers 
 were complied with for a single day.f 
 
 But after all, what a downright blessing is the 
 uncertainty of the weather in this dear England 
 of ours ! When it is fine it is at liberty to go on 
 as long as it pleases, and when it is dull no 
 mortal can tell how soon it may clear up again. 
 Thus there is always room left for Hope at the 
 bottom of the most hypochondriacal bucket. For 
 
 * * Be thine own palace, or the world's thy gaol/ 
 
 t See page 4. 
 
 E 
 
30 A DESCANT UPON 
 
 my own part I bear all the incommodities of the 
 climate quite joyfully when 1 reflect that I should 
 not be able to call Shakspeare and Milton my 
 countrymen had I been born in any other. 
 
 'If ^iv TV" ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^r ^ ^r 
 
 ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ tt ^ ^r ^ 
 
 A^ A^ \^ ^ ^ 4b 4k 4k 4k 4k 4k 4k 4k 4k 4k 
 
 ^^ ^^ ^r ^v ^r ^V" ^v *tv ^V ^V ^' ^V ^V ^V ^V 
 
 Even mariner's predictions are 
 worth no more than other men's^ when uttered 
 upon shore. Only yesterday (the 20th of Octo- 
 ber), as I was looking through a window at 
 
 O Rectory, a gentle Lady who chances 
 
 to be staying there drew my attention to the 
 frustum of a rainbow, called ^a weather-dog' in 
 Cornwall, and by the fishermen here ^a bar.' 
 She told me she had just learnt from the boat- 
 men that it denoted the sure continuance of 
 those storms which had already prevailed nearly 
 a fortnight. To-day (Shade of Nelson ! was it 
 
I 
 
 I 
 
 WEATHER-WISDOM. 31 
 
 reverential thought of thee that ' stilled old 
 Ocean?) has been one of the most delectable 
 and serene that I can call to mind. Full early 
 
 Like stars in heaven, 
 With ships the sea was sprinkled far and nigh, 
 
 that had gladly forsaken their sheltering bays 
 and were steadily pursuing their course, unde- 
 terred by last night's dreadful bar. Is either of 
 the little party (we were but three) who paced 
 the down this morning likely to forget the en- 
 trancement of the scene which it presented? 
 No ! nor the increase of delight that awaited us 
 when we had descended the cliff, 
 
 Not unpartaking help from Poet's staff, 
 
 and entered upon that matchless walk round the 
 Point, where one would feel shocked at the wick- 
 edness of wishing to see anything more beautiful. 
 If I resume and finish these cogitations they shall 
 be inscribed to my benign Intelligencer of yester- 
 day, in return for the alacrity with which she 
 
S2 A DESCANT. 
 
 renounced all confidence in delusive prognosticks 
 and adopted my favourite canon — that there 
 
 IS NO SURE W^AY OF KNOWING VS^HAT TO-MOR- 
 ROW^'S W^EATHER W^ILL BE^ EXCEPT BY W^AITING 
 TILL TO-MORROW^ COMES. 
 
 ^ 
 
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 Wl^ v^ /U«fi4 uvv*«»W h *^L^i 
 
 DESCANT 
 
 UPOX 
 
 WEATHER-WISDOM 
 
 A FRAGMENT. 
 
 AND BI.OOD' O^^ ^I^I. GROW." 
 
 Library of ^ . 
 
 Ko. 
 
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 QfornEU Hmucrattg Hthtarg 
 
 Jttfaca, New $ork 
 
 WORDSWORTH COLLECTION 
 
 MADE BY 
 
 CYNTHIA MORGAN ST. JOHN 
 ITHACA. N. Y. 
 
 THE GIFT OF 
 
 VICTOR EMANUEL 
 
 CLASS OF 1919 
 1925 
 
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