Part 2

OR THE

SHEPHERD OF BANBURY's

OBSERVATIONS.

SUN. If the Sun rise red and firey. } Wind and Rain.

THE Reason of this Appearance is, because the Sun shines through a large Mass of Vapours, which occasions that red Colour that has been always esteemed a Sign of Rain, especially if the Face of the Sun appear bigger than it ought, for then in a few Hours the Clouds will grow black, and be condensed into Rain, sudden and sharp, if in the Summer, but settled and moderate if in Winter.

THE old English Rule published in our first Almanacks agrees exactly with our Author's Observation.

If red the Sun begins his Race, Be sure that Rain will fall apace.

IF the Reader would see this elegantly described, the Master of Poets hath it thus.[a]

Above the Rest, the Sun, who never lies, Foretels the Change of Weather in the Skies; For if he rise unwilling to his Race, Clouds on his Brow, and Spots upon his Face, Or if thro' Mists he shoots his sullen Beams, Frugal of light, in loose and straggling Streams, Suspect a drizzling Day and southern Rain, Fatal to Fruits and Flocks, and promis'd Grain.

Sol quoque & exoriens, & cum se condit in undas, Signa dabit: Solem certissima signa sequuntur, Et quae Mane refert, & quae surgentibus Astris, Ille ubi nascentem maculis variaverit Ortum Concavus in Nubem, medioque refugerit Orbe; Suspecti tibi sint Imbres. Namque urget ab alto Arboribusque satisque Notus Pecorique sinister.

Virgil. Georgic. lib. i. v. 438.]

II.

If cloudy, and it soon decrease. } Certain fair Weather.

I Conceive the Reason of this to be, that the Vapours being then specifically lighter than the Air, are still rising upwards, in which they are assisted by the Heat of the Sun Beams, agreeable to the Notion of Dr. Derham, who observes, that after much cloudy Weather, it is always fair before it rains, because the watery Vapours are not condensed till they reach the cold upper Region, agreeable to the common English saying,

The Evening red, and Morning grey, Is a Sign of a fair Day.

IT is also an Observation, of Pliny's in his natural History.[b]

SI ab ortu solis repellentur Nubes, & ad occasum abibunt, Serenitatem denunciabunt,

That is,

IF at Sun rising the Clouds are driven away, and retire as it were to the West, this denotes fair Weather.

THERE is an old Adage to this Purpose, which, because it is very prettily expressed, deserves our notice, viz.

A red Evening and a grey Morning, Sets the Pilgrim a Walking.

In French thus.

Le rogue Soir, & blanc Matin; Font rejouvir le Pelerin.

The Italians say the same.

Sera rosa, & nigro Matino; Allegra il Peregrino.

III.

CLOUDS Small and round, like a } Dappley-grey, with a North-Wind. } Fair Weather for 2 or 3 Days.

THIS is differently expressed by other Authors. My Lord Bacon tells us, that if Clouds appear white, and drive to the N. W. it is a Sign of several Days fair Weather.