Who was St Swithin and when is St Swithin''s day? Do we associate anything in particular with this day (as, for instance, we associate love with St Valentine''s Day)? | Notes and Queries | guardian.co.uk Who was St Swithin and when is St Swithin's day? Do we associate anything in particular with this day (as, for instance, we associate love with St Valentine's Day)? Dan Woolley, Leeds Yorkshire UK St Swithin or Swithun was Bishop of Winchester and he died in AD 862 He was adopted as the patron saint of Winchester and in the 12th century the doggerel lines were penned. "St Swithin's day if thou dost rain For forty days it will remain St Swithin's day if thou be fair For forty days will rain na mair" Jack Hill, St Albans England UK St Swithin was the Bishop of Winchester and died in 862. He is commemorated on July 15 when, supposedly, if it rains it will continue to do so for forty days. Jonathan, Lancaster UK Bishop of Winchester 852-862 although very little is known about him other than from legends.

In 971 Bishop Ethelwold moved Swithun's remains to a new shrine, commisioned by King Edgar, in Winchester Cathedral (the Old Minster not the present one) which became a place of pilgrimage as miracles were worked at the tomb. In the 990's Swithun's sanctity and miracles were celebrated by two Winchester writers as well as in Aelfric's "Lives of the Saints". His cult continues to flourish in the Middle Ages. His day is 15th July; if it rains then it will rain for 40 days because Swithun, a humble man, wished to be buried in the graveyard at Winchester and not in a fine tomb, cursing the land with 40 days of rain should the latter be done. So blame Bishop Ethelwold and King Edgar for our bad weather! John Bromilow, Okehampton UK St Swithin was bishop of Winchester in the 9th century. He requested that he be buried outside the cathedral, exposed to the footsteps of the people of the town, and to the rain.

When his body was moved inside in the following century, a great storm was thought to be caused by his anger at this contravention of his wishes. So the tradition is that if it rains on St Swithin's Day (July 15th), it will rain for the next 40 days in succession, and a fine 15th July will be followed by 40 days of fine weather. Encyclopaedia Britannica at also adds that as weather frequently changes around midsummer, the tradition that this day influences the weather may stem from ancient pagan belief. On the European continent similar beliefs are attached to other saints (e.g., St. MÃ©dard, June 8, France). Tessa, Wimbledon UK He was Bishop of Winchester and died in 1862. St Swithin's Day is 15th July - the date when he was moved to a new shrine. This day is associated with the weather forecast for the English summer, in the rhyme: St. Swithin's day if thou dost rain For forty days it will remain St. Swithin's day if thou be fair For forty days 'twill rain nae mair.

Richard Thompson, Allerod Denmark St Swithun (this is the preferred spelling in Winchester, the city with which he is most closely associated) was a Bishop of Winchester in the 9th century and tutor to King Alfred the Great. He is said to have performed one miracle in his lifetime, mending the eggs of a woman who had dropped them in her astonishment at seeing the bishop. After his death, he was buried at his own request outside the cathedral where the rain would fall on his grave. Later his body was moved inside, and his spirit was so offended that it caused rain to fall for forty consecutive days. For this reason, it is said that if it rains on St Swithun's Day (15 July) it will rain for the next forty days. Matthew Francis, Cardiff Wales It's July 15th, the date that his shrine was consecrated. The association with rain is due to his request that he be buried in the open "where the raindrops will fall on me". Richard Thompson, Allerod Denmark St.

Swithins day falls on the 15th July, and it is reputed to be on this day that the great flood started (Noah etc), hence the belief that if it rains on this day it'll continue for fourty days and nights... Warthog, Nicosia Cyprus St. Swithin's Day | weather folklore | Britannica.com Submit Tips For Editing We welcome suggested improvements to any of our articles. You can make it easier for us to review and, hopefully, publish your contribution by keeping a few points in mind. Encyclopædia Britannica articles are written in a neutral objective tone for a general audience. You may find it helpful to search within the site to see how similar or related subjects are covered. Any text you add should be original, not copied from other sources. At the bottom of the article, feel free to list any sources that support your changes, so that we can fully understand their context. (Internet URLs are the best.) Your contribution may be further edited by our staff, and its publication is subject to our final approval. Unfortunately, our editorial approach may not be able to accommodate all contributions. Submit Thank You for Your Contribution!

Our editors will review what you've submitted, and if it meets our criteria, we'll add it to the article. Please note that our editors may make some formatting changes or correct spelling or grammatical errors, and may also contact you if any clarifications are needed. Uh Oh There was a problem with your submission. Please try again later. Close Article Title: St. Swithin's Day Website Name: Encyclopædia Britannica Date Published: July 16, 2015 URL: Access Date: January 20, 2017 Share Weather Facts: St. Swithun's Day | weatheronline.co.uk Weather Facts | Wind of the World | Climate of the World | Weather Lore | Weather Brains | Philip Eden | Oil spill | Fukushima | Volcanic ash | Video St. Swithun's Day St. Swithun, Bishop of Winchester, was born around the year 800 and died on 2nd of July 862 at Winchester (Hampshire). He was, say the chroniclers, a diligent builder of churches in places where there were none before and a repairer of those that had been destroyed or ruined. St.

Swithun was buried, according to his own desire, in the churchyard of the Old Minster (Cathedral) at Winchester, where passers by might tread on his grave and where the rain from the eaves might fall on it. His reputation as a weather saint is said to have arisen from the translation of his body from this lowly grave to its golden shrine within the Cathedral, having been delayed by incessant rain. Hence the weather on the festival of his translation (15th July) indicated, according to the old rhyme, what it would be for the next forty days: St. Swithun's day, if thou dost rain, For forty days it will remain; St. Swithun's day, if thou be fair, For forty days 'twill rain na mair. Whoever told the story about the St. Swithun's day saying was obviously well aware that summer weather patterns establishing by the beginning to the middle of July tend to be persistent throughout the coming few weeks. In fact this is statistically true in 7 to 8 out of 10 years. The meteorological interpretation is quite straightforward.

The position of the frontal zone around the end of June to early July, indicated by the position of the jet stream, determines the general weather patterns (hot, cold, dry, wet) for the rest of the summer. Like a little stream in its bed, the frontal zone tends to 'dig in' shortly after the summer solstice. As the path of our weather systems is controlled by the jet stream , a more southerly location of the frontal zone is likely to bring rather unsettled, wet and cool weather. On the other hand, a frontal zone shifted further to the north will help the Azores high to build over western Europe, thus bringing dry and pleasant weather to the UK. Try and prepare your own summer forecast with our expert maps. The 500mbar maps usually give a good idea about the position of the frontal zone. Have a look at them over the next two weeks and produce a DIY summer forecast valid until mid-August with a confidence of 70 to 80%. No wonder the St. Swithun's day rule is also know in other western European countries.

In France they say Quand il pleut a la Saint Gervais Il pleut quarante jours apres - If it rains on St. Gervais' day (19th of July), it will rain for fourty days thereafter. In Germany the Siebenschlaefer or seven sleepers day (July 7th, after the Gregorian calendar) refers to the weather patterns of the following seven weeks. Advertisement St Swithin's Day | Royal Meteorological Society Royal Meteorological Society St Swithun’s day if thou dost rain For forty days it will remain St Swithun’s day if thou be fair For forty days ‘twill rain nae mare St Swithun's Day is on 15th July. Will it rain for yet another 40 days? The St Swithun's Day legend is an old one –the earliest surviving written reference dates back to the 14th century – although its roots are much disputed. St Swithun (or Swithin) was an Anglo-Saxon bishop of Winchester who died in around AD862.

The clergyman requested that his remains be interred among the common people outside the church, but in 971, after he had been made patron saint of Winchester Cathedral, his body was dug up and moved to a new indoor shrine. According to some writers, this caused sufficient displeasure in the heavens for a terrible downpour to strike the church and continue unabated for 40 days, hence the legend. The only problem with this theory is a complete and utter absence any evidence, with no early account of the reburial mentioning the slightest drop of rain. Whatever its roots, the veracity of the St Swithun's Day myth clearly fails to stand up to much detailed examination. Since records began, not a single 40-day drought has occurred anywhere in the UK during the summer months, and there has been not one instance at any time of the year of 40 consecutive days of rainfall. Sunshine on St Swithun's Day in Miami may well auger 40 days of unbroken sunshine, but in Blackpool it most assuredly does not. That said, there is the tiniest glimmer of sense to the rhyme.

The middle of July tends to be around the time that the jet stream settles into a relatively consistent pattern. If the jet stream lies north of the UK throughout the summer, continental high pressure is able to move in, bringing warmth and sunshine. If it sticks further south, Arctic air and Atlantic weather systems are likely to predominate, bringing colder, wetter weather. The rhyme just needs a little re-rendering: St Swithun's day if thou dost rain For forty days, relatively unsettled there's a fair chance it will remain St Swithun's day if thou be fair For forty days, a northerly jet stream might result in some fairly decent spells But then again it might not St Swithin's Day: What is it and will it rain for 40 days? St Swithin's Day: What is it and will it rain for 40 days? People are caught in heavy rain in Westminster, London in June Credit: PA What is St Swithin's Day? St Swithin's Day falls on July 15 every year. According to tradition, whatever the weather is like on that day - whether rainy or sunny - it will continue for the next 40 days and 40 nights.

⛅️Today is #StSwithinsDay 🌧 Is there any truth in the saying? pic.twitter.com/ZwU9voErma — Met Office (@metoffice) July 15, 2016 So what's the forecast looking like? We might be in for a soggy summer, if St Swithin's prophecy is to be believed. According to the Met Office, cloud and rain will spread eastwards across the northern half of the UK during the day. Western Scotland will receive the heaviest of the rain, but it will be drier elsewhere, with some sunny spells. Here's Friday's weather map 1407 Weather Who was St Swithin? St Swithin (or St Swithun) was an Anglo-Saxon bishop at Winchester Cathedral who died in 862. At that time Winchester was the capital of the kingdom of Wessex. He is believed to have been a trusted counsellor of Egbert, King of the West Saxons, and educated his son Ethelwulf who appointed him bishop. Very little is known about his life and there's hardly any mention of him in documents from the time that he lived.

However he was famed for his charity and church building and was made patron saint of Winchester Cathedral about 100 years after his death. He supposedly performed just one miracle during his lifetime - making an old lady's eggs whole again after workmen smashed them while building a church. Swithin is derived from the Old English word for "strong" and St Swithin's symbols are raindrops and apples. St Swithin was a bishop at Winchester Cathedral Where did weather legend originate? As he lay on his deathbed St Swithin asked to be buried outside the Old Minster in Winchester, in a lowly grave where his body would be trodden and rained on. However more than a century later, on July 15, 971, Winchester monks removed his remains to an elaborate shrine inside the cathedral where pilgrims flocked, believing his bones to have miraculous healing properties. But legend has it that St Swithin wasn't happy about his body being moved. On the day of the removal, ferocious and violent rain storms arrived lasting 40 days and nights which apparently represented his displeasure. This story soon became folklore and now British people keep an eye on the weather on July 15.

The superstition is expressed in the well-known rhyme. Nothing remains of St Swithin's shrine which was destroyed during King Henry VIII's Reformation, but there's a memorial to him at Winchester Cathedral. There's still a memorial to St Swithin at Winchester Cathedral Remind me of the rhyme? St Swithin’s Day, if it does rain Full forty days, it will remain St Swithin’s Day, if it be fair For forty days, t’will rain no more It feels like it always seems to #rain in the UK! Discover some fascinating facts pic.twitter.com/GHCVQDIFxL — Met Office (@metoffice) July 10, 2016 Is there any truth in it? Not really. The Met Office says there has not been a record of 40 dry or 40 wet days following St Swithin's Day since records began in 1861. However, according to the Royal Meteorological Society there is a tiny grain of truth to it. The weather in the UK often sets into a pattern around now, which only begins to change from the end of August as autumn nears.

It states on its website: "The middle of July tends to be around the time that the jet stream settles into a relatively consistent pattern. "If the jet stream lies north of the UK throughout the summer, continental high pressure is able to move in, bringing warmth and sunshine. "If it sticks further south, Arctic air and Atlantic weather systems are likely to predominate, bringing colder, wetter weather." What about other countries? Other western European countries observe a similar day, dedicated to different saints. In France, people keep watch for rain on July 19 (St Gervais' Day) and Germany's Seven Sleepers day (July 7) refers to the weather patterns over the next seven weeks. Watch | The four different types of fog and everything else you need to know about this weather phenomenon 01:02 There's a book about St Swithin's Day, too... David Nicholls's One Day is a romantic novel that was turned into a 2011 film starring Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess.

The book opens on July 15 (St Swithin’s Day) in 1988 with the first encounter between two students, Dexter and Emma, in Edinburgh, then revisits these two characters, either separately or together, on the same date for the next 20 years (hence the title). It could be tricksy, but in fact it proves to be a wonderfully effective device, providing a series of vivid snapshots of a relationship. Watch | One Day - trailer 02:14 At the end of each chapter the reader is left wondering what will happen next, then suddenly a year has gone by and the situation has changed in ways that are often surprising but always entirely believable. Nicholls has said that he wanted to “create the impression of looking through a photo album, so that the characters seem to change, yet remain the same. Twenty years is a substantial sprawl, so my initial instinct was to cover landmarks – births, marriages, deaths. Instead, I’ve taken one day at random – like a date on a bank statement.” Tell me some more weather proverbs... You might have heard of "rain before seven, fine by eleven".

This refers to the UK's rapidly changing weather caused by the westerly flow off the Atlantic, according to the Met Office. Rain early in the morning will have often moved on as midday approaches. Although this is sometimes true, it often isn't. "Red sky at night, shepherd's delight. Red sky in the morning, shepherd's warning" is another often-quoted proverb. The rhyme originated to help shepherds predict the following day's weather - and this one is often more reliable. Red sky in the evening indicates high pressure is on its way from the west, meaning good weather is approaching. Dust and small particles get trapped in the atmosphere by the high pressure and blue light scatters making the sky appear red. However, a red sky in the morning means the good weather has passed, and a low pressure system bringing rain and wind is likely to be on its way. Read more about how to predict the weather here.

News latest 01 Jan 2017, 3:52am St Swithins Church, Ashmanhaugh - Norfolk | Diocese of Norwich St Swithins Church Features and Facilities More Info The church possibly dates from the tenth century, it is dedicated to St Swithin whose cult dates from the mid-tenth century, which may be a guide to its founding. In 1556 Edward Steward, the parson of Horning was also curate of Ashmanhaugh. Since the late 1970s the vicar of Horning has again been the incumbent. St Swithin's is now one of the churches of the Horning Benefice. St Swithin was Bishop of Winchester in 852 and was canonised in the 900's. Nowadays, St Swithin is remembered particularly on the 15 July. The story related to this tells us that he had asked especially that he should be given an ordinary burial in the churchyard of the Minster, 'that the sweet rain of heaven should fall upon my grave'. However, at a later date it was considered that it would be more appropriate for him to be reburied within Winchester Cathedral.

After the reburial it rained for many days. Hence the connection between rain and St Swithin. July 15th The Book of Days is proudly brought to you by the members of Emmitsburg.net July 15th Born: Richard Cumberland, bishop of Peterborough, 1632, Aldersgate, London; Gerard Langbaine, the Younger (bibliography of the English drama), 1656, Oxford. Died: Anne of Cleves, consort of Henry VIII, 1567, Chelsea; James, Duke of Monmouth, executed on Tower Hill, 1685; John Wilson, botanist, 1751; Cardinal Passionei, librarian of the Vatican, 1761, Rome; Bryan Edwards, author of History of the West Indies, 1800, Southampton; Thomas Dermody, peasant-poet, 1802; William Mackworth Praed (comic poetry), 1839; Prince Adam Czartoryski, Polish patriot, 1861, Paris. Feast Day: St.

Plechelm, bishop and confessor, apostle of Gueiderland, 732; St. Swithin or Swithun, confessor, bishop and patron of Winchester, 862; St. Henry II., emperor of Germany, 1024. ST. SWITHINï¿½S DAY The pranks played by tradition with the memory of various noted individuals, saintly and otherwise, display not unfrequently the most whimsical anomalies both as regards praise and blame. Whilst the sordid and heretical George of Cappadocia has been transformed into the gallant and chivalrous St. George, the patron saint of England , and the mirror of all knightly virtues, it has been the misfortune of the patriotic and virtuous St. Swithin to be associated in the popular mind with drunkenness and excess, and at best to enjoy only a mythical reputation as the hero of a well-known saying in connection with the state of the weather on the anniversary of his so-called translation. The common adage regarding St. Swithin, as every one knows, is to the effect that, as it rains or is fair on St.

Swithin's Day, the 15th of July, there will be a continuous track of wet or dry weather for the forty days ensuing. St Swithin's Day, if thou dost rain, For forty days it will remain: St. Swithin's Day, if thou be fair, For forty days 'twill rain nae mair.' The explanation given by Brand in his Popular Antiquities of this sayingï¿½an explanation which has been pretty currently received as correctï¿½is as follows. St. Swithin, bishop of Winchester, was a man equally noted for his uprightness and humility. So far did he carry the latter quality, that, on his death-bed, he requested to be buried, not within the church, but outside in the churchyard, on the north of the sacred building, where his corpse might receive the eaves-droppings from the roof, and his grave be trodden by the feet of the passers-by.

His lowly request was complied with, and in this neglected spot his remains reposed till about a hundred years afterwards, when a fit of indignation seized the clergy at the body of so pious a member of their order being allowed to occupy such a position; and on an appointed day they all assembled to convey it with great pomp into the adjoining cathedral of Winchester. When they were about to commence the ceremony, a heavy rain burst forth, and continued without intermission for the forty succeeding days. The monks interpreted this tempest as a warning from Heaven of the blasphemous nature of their attempt to contravene the directions of St. Swithin, and, instead of disturbing his remains, they erected a chapel over his grave, at which many astounding miracles were performed. From this circumstance, it is stated, arose the popular belief of the anniversary of the attempted translation of St. Swithin being invested with a prophetic character in reference to the condition of the weather for the ensuing six weeks. This statement is specious, but unfortunately rests on no authority whatever, and indeed has been traced by an annotator on Brand to no more trustworthy source than a cutting from an old newspaper.

So far from the account of the repugnance of the saint to his transference from the churchyard to the church being borne out by the real facts of the case, these are diametrically the other way; and from what has been actually ascertained, the translation of St. Swithin was, instead of being a disastrous failure, accomplished with the utmost eclat and success. For the most recent history of this celebrated personage we are indebted to the Rev. John Earle , professor of Anglo-Saxon in the university of Oxford, who has published a facsimile and translation of a Saxon manuscript of the tenth centuryï¿½the earliest fragment which we possess regarding St. Swithinï¿½along with an ingenious essay, in which he has collected all the reliable data connected with the saint that can be obtained. These are far indeed from being either numerous or ample, but, such as they are, may be considered as exhaustive on this subject. Swithin, or Swithun, was born in the neighbour-hood of Winchester, probably about the year 800. He became a monk of the Old Abbey of Winchester, and gradually rose to be prior of that community.

He seems to have gained the favour of Egbert, king of Wessex, who intrusted him with the education of his son and successor, Ethelwulf. An authentic record of Swithin at this period is furnished by a charter granted by King Egbert in 838, and bearing the signatures of Elmstan, episcopus, and Swithunus, diaconus. Elmstan dying in 852, Swithin was appointed his successor in the see of Winchester, a situation which he filled with great credit and usefulness. Through his endeavours great improvements were effected on the city, including the erection of several churches, and the spanning of the Itchen by a fine stone bridge, the first of the kind which had been seen in these parts. After the accession of Ethelwulf, he acted as that monarch's counsellor in all matters relating to religion and the peaceful arts, whilst the charge of military and foreign affairs was assumed by Alstan, bishop of Sher-bourne.

It has been imagined that he was chosen by Ethelwulf to accompany his son, the great Alfred, then a boy, on his visit to Rome, and also that he acted as mediator betwixt Ethelwulf and his eldest son, the rebellious Ethelbald. Swithin seems to have died about 862, leaving directions that he should be buried in a vile place, under the eaves-droppings on the north side of Winchester church. Mr. Earle conjectures that he may have chosen this locality for sepulture, to put a stop to the common superstitious prejudices against burial in that part of the churchyard.

Whatever may have been his reasons, his request was acceded to, and there he would probably have been permitted to rest undisturbed, had it not suited the policy of Dunstan , more than a hundred years afterwards, to revive the popular veneration for Swithin, in furtherance of his own schemes for the establishment of monastic discipline, for Swithin appears to have been a maintainer of the stricter conventual rule, which Dunstan zealously sought to enforce; and he had, moreover, earned a most enduring mark of distinction, by being the first to get introduced the system of tithes as a provision for the clergy. This was during the reign of Ethelwulf, who was induced by Swithin to set apart a tenth of his lands for religious uses, though the payment of tithes as a legal obligation was not introduced till the time of Athelstan, nor finally established till under King Edgar. In addition to the reasons just detailed, the cathedral of Winchester was then rebuilding under Bishop Ethelwold, a confederate of Archbishop Dunstan; and the enrichment of the new temple by the possession of some distinguished relics was a most desirable object.

The organised plan was now accordingly put into execution, and ingenious reports were circulated regarding certain miraculous appearances made by Swithin. The account of these forms the subject of the Saxon fragment above referred to, edited by Mr. Earle. According to this, Bishop Swithin appeared one night in a dream to a poor decrepit smith, and requested him to go to a certain priest, named Eadsige, who, with others, had been ejected for misconduct from the abbey of Old-Minster, and desire him, from Swithin, to repair to Bishop Ethelwold, and command him to open his (Swithin's) grave, and bring his bones within the church. The smith, in reply to the orders of his ghostly visitant, stated that Eadsige would not believe him, whereupon Swithin rejoined that he would find the reality of the vision confirmed by going to his stone coffin, and pulling there from an iron ring, which would yield without the least diffuculty. The smith was still unconvinced, and Swithin had to repeat his visit twice; after which the smith went to the bishop's tomb, and withdrew the ring from the coffin with the greatest ease, as had been foretold.

He then delivered. Swithin's message to Eadsige, who hesitated for a while, but at last communicated it to Bishop Ethelwold. Contemporaneously, various wonderful miracles took place at Bishop Swithin's tomb, including the cure of a deformed man, who was relieved of his hump, in the most astonishing manner, by praying at the grave; and of another individual, who recovered by the same means from a grievous ailment in his eyes. These preternatural occurrences were all duly reported to King Edgar, who thereupon gave directions for the formal translation of the relics of St. Swithin from the grave in the churchyard to the interior of the cathedral, where they were enclosed in a magnificent shrine, and placed in a conspicuous position. A few years afterwards, the church, which had previously been dedicated to the apostles Peter and Paul, changed these guardians for St. Swithin, who continued its patron saint till the time of Henry VIII., who ordered the name of the Holy Trinity to be substituted. A splendid ceremonial and feast accompanied the translation, which was effected on 15th July 971, 108 years after the death of Swithin.

It ought to be remarked, that, though distinguished by the prefix of Saint, Swithin was never regularly canonised by the pope, a practice not introduced till nearly 200 years after his translation, which is the only ceremony on which he rests his claim to the title. He is thus emphatically what Mr. Earle calls 'a home-made saint.' It will be noticed that the above narrative completely contradicts Mr. Brand's account of a supposed supernatural inter-position on the part of Swithin to prevent his translation. No event or natural phenomenon, which could be construed into such, is alluded to by any of the various authorsï¿½Monk Wolstan and othersï¿½who subsequently wrote histories of St. Swithin. On the contrary, the weather seems to have been most propitious, whilst the community at large, so far from regarding these proceedings of their rulers as an unhallowed contravention of the wishes of the holy man, seemed rather to have rejoiced in the honours bestowed on his relics, and to have feasted and revelled to the utmost. How, then, did the popular notion about St. Swithin's Day arise? Most probably, as Mr.

Earle remarks, it was derived from some primeval pagan belief regarding the meteorologically prophetic character of some day about the same period of the year as St. Swithin's. Such adaptations, it is well known, were very frequent on the supplanting throughout Europe of heathenism by Christianity. Many of our popular customs and beliefs can indeed be only satisfactorily explained by tracing them to such a source. In further confirmation of this view, it is to be observed, that in various countries of the European continent the same belief prevails, though differences exist as to the period of the particular day in question. Thus, in France, St. Mï¿½dard's Day ( June 8 ), and the day of Saints Gervais and Protais ( June 19 ), have a similar character ascribed to them: 'S'il pleut le jour de Saint Mï¿½dard, Il pleut quarante jours plus tard; S'il pleut le jour de Saint Gervais et de Saint Protais, Il pleut quarante jours apre's.' It is a little curious that St.

Mï¿½dard should have the post of a rainy saint assigned him, as the celebrated fĕte at Salency, where the young maiden who has enjoyed the highest reputation during the preceding year for good-conduct receives a prize, and is crowned with a chaplet of roses, takes place on his day, and is said to have been instituted by him. A somewhat ludicrous account is given of the origin of the peculiar characteristic of St. Mï¿½dard's Day. It is said that, Mï¿½dard being out with a large party one hot day in summer, a heavy fall of rain suddenly took place, by which all were thoroughly drenched, with the exception of the saint himself, round whose head an eagle kept continually fluttering; and by sheltering him with his wings till his return home, accomplished effectually the purposes of an umbrella. In Belgium they have a rainy saint, named St. Godeliï¿½ve; whilst in Germany, among others, a character of this description is ascribed to the day of the Seven Sleepers. The belief in the peculiar characteristics of St.

Swithin's Day is thus alluded to in Poor Robin's Almanac for 1697: 'In this month is St. Swithin's Day, On which, if that it rain, they say, Full forty days after it will, Or more or less, some rain distil. This Swithin was a saint, I trow, And Winchester's bishop also, Who in his time did many a feat, As popish legends do repeat: A woman having broke her eggs, By stumbling at another's legs, For which she made a woful cry. St. Swithin chanced for to come by, Who made them all as sound or more, Than ever that they were before. But whether this were so or no, 'Tis more than you or I do know. Better it is to rise betime, And to make hay while sun doth shine, Than to believe in tales and lies, Which idle monks and friars devise.' In the next century, Gay remarks in his Trivia 'Now if on Swithin's feast the welkin lours, And every penthouse streams with hasty showers, Twice twenty days shall clouds their fleeces drain, And wash the pavement with incessant rain.

Let not such vulgar tales debase thy mind; Nor Paul nor Swithin rule the clouds and wind!' The question now remains to be answered, whether the popular belief we have been considering has any foundation in fact, and here the observations at Greenwich for the 20 years preceding 1861, must be adduced to demonstrate its fallacy. From these we learn that St. Swithin's Day was wet in 1841, and there were 23 rainy days up to the 24th of August; 1845, 26 rainy days; 1851, 13 rainy days;- 1853, 18 rainy days; 1854, 16 rainy days; and, in 1856, 14 rainy days. In 1842, and following years, St.

Swithin's Day was dry, and the result was in 1842, 12 rainy days; 1843, 22 rainy days; 1844, 20 rainy days; 1846, 21 rainy days; 1847, 17 rainy days; 1848, 31 rainy days; 1849, 20 rainy days; 1850, 17 rainy days; 1852, 19 rainy days; 1855, 18 rainy days; 1857, 14 rainy days; 1858, 14 rainy days; 1859, 13 rainy days; and, in 1860, 29 rainy days. It will thus be seen, by the average of the fore-going 20 years, that the greatest number of rainy days, after St. Swithin's Day, had taken place when the 15th of July was dry.

It is, indeed, likely enough that a track of wet weather, or the opposite, may occur at this period of the year, as a change generally takes place soon after midsummer, the character of which will depend much on the state of the previous spring. If this has been for the greater part dry, it is very probable that the weather may change to wet about the middle of July, and vice versa''. But that any critical meteorological influence resides in the 15th, seems wholly erroneous. Hone, in his Everyday Book, quotes an amusing instance of a lady, a stanch believer in St. Swithin, who, on his day one year being fine, expressed her belief in an approaching term of fine weather, but, a few drops of rain having fallen in the evening, changed her tune, and maintained that the next six weeks would be wet. Her prediction was not accomplished, the weather having been remark-ably fine. 'No matter,' she would say, when pressed on the point, 'if there has been no rain during the day, there certainly has been during the night.' Her opinion of St. Swithin's infallibility was in nowise to be shaken.

The same author mentions a pretty saying current in some parts of the country when rain falls on St. Swithin's bans: 'St. Swithin is christening the apples.' It is only to be remarked, in conclusion, that the epithet of the 'drunken saint,' sometimes applied to St. Swithin, is a base slander on the worthy bishop's memory. True, the Saxons were rather noted for their convivial habits, and St. Swithin, doubtless, had no objection to a cheerful glass in moderation. But no aberrations whatever, on the score of temperance, are recorded of him. The charge belongs clearly to the same category as that veracious statement in the popular ditty, by which St. Patrick, the apostle of Ireland, is represented as a lover of potheen, and initiating his converts in the art of manufacturing that liquor. JAMES, DUKE OF MONMOUTH Monmouth's tragic history has redeemed from contempt a person who was naturally a mediocrity, and something of a fool.

Born in 1650, the eldest natural son of the young exiled Charles II, brought into prominence as a beautiful boy at the Restoration , he was thought to have his fortune made by being married to the girl Countess of Buccleuch, then considered the greatest heiress in the three kingdoms, seeing that her family estates were reckoned at five thousand a year! But there was something horrible and revolting in uniting two mere children in marriage for interested reasons, and nature avenged herself by introducing alienation between them, though not till they had become the direct ancestors of the line of the Dukes of Buccleuch. There was always a hankering notion that a secret marriage had existed between Charles II and Lucy Waters, the mother of Monmouth. Charles took formal steps for declaring the contrary to be the truth; but, nevertheless, the love the king had for his handsome son, and perhaps a few suspicious facts, kept alive the idea in the young man's heart. The oppressed dissenters took him up as one in whom they might have hopes, if legitimacy could be established.

So it was not wonderful, when his essentially weak character is considered, that he should have set up pretensions to the throne against his uncle James II, though nothing could be for himself more ruinously unfortunate. His ill-starred expedition in June 1685, the rebellion he headed, his defeat at Sedgemore, and the subsequent circumstances, have all been rendered familiar to the present generation by the animated narration of Macaulay . The exact particulars of his capture are less known, and are very interesting. It appears that the duke rode from the field along with Lord Gray, and proceeded to Woodyates, where they quitted their horses, and the duke assumed the clothes of a peasant. He then walked on with the design of reaching Bournemouth, in order, if possible, to get shipping for the continent. An alarm from the appearance of his enemies interrupted this plan, and he fled across the country to a wild tract of ground called Shag's Heath. There was here a patch of cultivated ground, divided by hedges, enclosed by a ditch, and bearing crops of rye and pease in full summer growth. It bore the name of the Island, by reason that it was entirely surrounded by ground in an opposite condition.

On the report of a woman, that she had seen a man enter that enclosure, the dragoons surrounded it---'beat' it in all directionsï¿½and at length, on the ensuing day, when about to depart in despair, lighted upon the would-be king, skulking in a ditch under fern. The spot is still indicated with precision by a tree, which is popularly called Monmouth's Ash. It was with some difficulty he was identified, so great was the change which the mean attire and three days of personal neglect, starvation, and terror had wrought upon his once graceful form. The woman, Ann Farrant, who had given the information regarding his entering the Island, was considered by the peasantry to have never thriven after her ungracious act. Amongst the articles found upon Monmouth's person, was a little pocket-book containing notes of various journeys, and a number of charms or spells. This volume, recovered from a book-stall at Paris, was shewn in 1849, at a meeting of the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin, and is now in the British Museum.

The charms are found to be for such purposes as learning how a sickness is to end, and whether a friend will continue faithful; to heal certain maladies, and make gray hair turn black. There are also cabalistic and astrological figures, which have not been explained. The character of this part of the contents, of the book is in conformity with a statement which has come from Colonel William Legge, the officer who conducted Monmouth to London after his capture. This gentleman reported that, on their journey, the duke shewed him several charms he had about his person, which he said he had got when in Scotland, but which he now saw to be only 'foolish conceits.' It must be admitted that Monmouth was not singular in trusting to such conceits. We may here well remember that his truly 'cruel uncle,' James II, a very few years afterwards, was induced to pause in his advance against the Prince of Orange, and to return from Salisbury to London, by a bleeding at his nose! MACKWORTH PRAED The name of Praed is one far less familiar to the public than it deserves to be.

Some writers with great natural gifts have obstinately stood in their own lightï¿½have written so obscurely that the world would not be at the trouble of deciphering their meaning; but the subject of our present notice wrote as clearly as Cowper, and yet remains comparatively unknown on this side of the Atlantic. The Americans, with their usual quickness, long ago perceived his merits, and published his poetical works, but have included in the edition many poems which Praed never wrote, and many which, for his literary fame, he had better not have written. A small volume might, however, be made up of his selected writings, which would, in its line, be without a rival. As an author of Verses of Society ï¿½and those not of transitory interest, or on altogether frivolous themesï¿½he is far superior to Thomas Moore, to the Hon.

William Spencer (a writer far more widely known than Praed), and indeed to any poet of the class, whom we can call to mind, whether celebrated for those efforts alone, or exercising powerful pinions, as in Moore's case, in such short 'swallow flights of song.' He combined no small portion of the wit of Hood, with an elegance to which Hood could not lay claim; while in his soberer pieces he reminds one of Crabbe dancing that is to say, they have all the naturalness of the Tales of the Hall, mingled with a certain graceful humour. The Vicar is a charming poem of the latter class. His talk was like a stream which runs With rapid change from rocks to roses; It slipped from politics to puns; It passed from Mahomet to Moses; Beginning with the laws which keep The planets in their radiant courses, And ending with some precept deep For dressing eels or shoeing horses.

He was a shrewd and sound divine, Of loud dissent the mortal terror; And when by dint of page and line, He 'stablished truth or startled error, The Baptist found him far too deep; The Deist sighed with saving sorrow, And the lean Levite went to sleep And dreamt of eating pork to-morrow. He wrote, too, in a quiet way, Small treatises and smaller verses, And sage remarks on chalk and clay, And hints to noble lords and nurses; True histories of last year's ghost; Lines to a ringlet or a turban, And trifles for the Morning Post, And nothings for Sylvanus Urban. He did not think all mischief fair, Although he had a knack of joking; He did not make himself a bear, Although he had a taste for smoking. And when religious sects ran mad He held, in spite of all his learning, That if a man's belief is bad It will not be improved by burning. And he was kind, and loved to sit In the low hut or garnished cottage, And praise the farmer's homely wit, And share the widow's homelier pottage.

At his approach complaint grew mild, And when his hand unbarred the shutter, The clammy lips of fever smiled The welcome that they could not utter. He always had a tale for me Of Julius Caesar or of Venus; From him I learned the rule of three, Cat's-cradle, leap-frog, and Qum genus; I used to singe his powdered wig, To steal the staff he put such trust in, And make the puppy dance a jig When he began to quote Augustine. That Praed should have gathered so little fame is the more remarkable as, when alive, he had a reputation even superior to his merits. The friend and contemporary of Macaulay at Cambridge, he awakened an equal expectation of future greatness in all who knew them both. He carried off as many university prizes as the embryo historian; 1 he divided with him the applause of the under-graduate audience in the Union; and in the poems which the friendly rivals contributed at that period to Knight's Magazine, Praed (with one glorious exception, The Battle of Naseby) surpassed Macaulay altogether.

It is only in the pages of that extinct serial, and here and there in other dead periodicals, that the treasures of Praed's muse can be found. In politics, Praed was a Conservative, and in the Songs of the Civil Wars which Macaulay and he contributed to the pages of Mr. Knight, took the Cavalier side, as will be seen in the following passage from his ballad of Marston Moor . To horse! to horse! Sir Nicholas, the clarion's note is high! To horse! to horse! Sir Nicholas, the big drum makes reply! Ere this hath Lucas marched, with his gallant cavaliers, And the bray of Rupert's trumpets grows fainter in our ears. To horse! to horse! Sir Nicholas! White Guy is at the door, And the Raven whets his beak o'er the field of Marston Moor. Up rose the Lady Alice from her brief and broken prayer, Aud she brought a silken banner down the narrow turret-stair; Oh! many were the tears that those radiant eyes had shed, As she traced the bright word "Glory" in the gay and glancing thread; And mournful was the smile which o'er those lovely features ran.

As she said, "It is your lady's gift, unfurl it in the van!" "It shall flutter, noble wench, where the best and boldest ride, Midst the steel-clad files of Skippon, the black dragoons of Pride; The recreant heart of Fairfax shall feel a sicklier qualm, And the rebel lips of Oliver gave out a louder psalm; When they see my lady's gewgaw flaunt proudly on their wing, And hear the loyal soldier's shout, "For God and for the King!" 'Tis noon. The ranks are broken, along the royal line They fly, the braggarts of the court! the bullies of the Rhine!

Stout Langdale's cheer is heard no more, and Astley's helm is down, And Rupert sheaths his rapier, with a curse and with a frown, And cold Newcastle mutters, as he follows in their flight, "The German boar had better far have supped in York tonight!" The knight is left alone, his steel-cap cleft in twain, His good buff jerkin crimson'd o'er with many a gory stain: Yet still he waves his banner, and cries amid the rout, "For Church and King, fair gentlemen! spur on, and fight it out!" And now he wards a Roundhead's pike, and now he hums a stave, And now he quotes a stage-play, and now he fells a knave. God aid thee now, Sir Nicholas! thou hast no thought of fear; God aid thee now, Sir Nicholas! for fearful odds are here! The rebels hem thee in, and at every cut and thrust, "Down, down," they cry, "with Belial!

down with him to the dust!" "I would," quoth grim old Oliver, "that Belial's trusty sword, This day were doing battle for the Saints and for the Lord!" The tendencies of Praed induced the Conservative party to entertain great hopes of him in parliament; but in that arena, although he sat for some years, he made no figure. In 1830, he was elected for Truro; in 1835, for Yarmouth, and finally for Aylesbury; he was Secretary of the Board of Control under the Conservative government in 1835. When he died, still young, a lament arose from a large circle of friends that he had done so little, and that little only as a fashionable poet. But a first-rate fashionable poet is surely equal to a second-rate politician, and more than this, there was really no reason to suppose that Praed would ever become. He exercised his talents in the direction for which they were best fitted, and acquitted himself excellently well. He wrote at least half-a-dozen poems which deserve to live as long as the language, and to be popular while humour, elegance, and pathos still command a welcome.

The biography of Winthrop Mackworth Praed is comprised in his poems. They are all he did with which mankind at large has any concern. The darling of a fashionable and intellectual circle, he lived the usual butterfly life of his class, except for the parliamentary experiments above alluded to. His influence upon his contemporariesï¿½clearly traceable, by the by, in Macaulay's early poetic effortsï¿½was doubtless very considerable, but we have no means of estimating it. There are certain men to whom the public is I not introduced except by proxyï¿½such as Sidney Walker, and Arthur 'H. Hallamï¿½and whose merits we are required to take upon trust. Men of judgment to whom they were justly dear, and who estimated them highly, evidence warmly in their favour; at last, half irritated that we refuse to welcome a shadow, they publish their Literary Remains. In nine cases out of ten, the disappointment of the public thereupon is made rudely manifest, and the reputation that has been sought to be established is blown to the winds.

At the head of all authors of this class stands Mackworth Praed, but with this important difference, that his Remainsï¿½although no pious British hand has yet collected themï¿½more than bear out all that we hear of his merits from private sources. It is impossible to question the social charms of the man who could write the following poem, which fitly concludes this sketchï¿½'a poem,' says Miss Mitford, 'as truthful as if it had been written in prose by Jane Austen.' And she was flattered, worshipped, bored, Her steps were watched, her dress was noted, Her poodle-dog was quite adored, Her sayings were extremely quoted. She laughed, and every heart was glad, As if the taxes were abolished: She frowned, and every look was sad, As if the opera were demolished. She smiled on many just for fun I knew that there was nothing in it: I was the first, the only one, Her heart had thought of for a minute. I knew it, for she told me so, In phrase that was divinely moulded; She wrote a charming hand, and oh! How neatly all her notes were folded.

Our love was like most other lovesï¿½ A little glow, a little shiver; A rosebud and a pair of gloves, And "Fly not yet," upon the river; Some jealousy of some one's heir; Some hopes of dying broken-hearted; A miniature; a lock of hair; The usual vows; and then we parted. We parted: months and years rolled by, We met again some summers after; Our parting was all sob and sigh! Our meeting was all mirth and laughter! For in my heart's most secret cell There had been many other lodgers; And she was not the ball-room belle, But only Mistressï¿½somethingï¿½Rogers! W. M. Praed was born in 1802 and died in 1839. THE FIRST HULKS ON THE THAMES English statesmen, in past days, felt a difficulty which the lapse of time has rendered very little more soluble than before: viz., the best kind of secondary punishment to adopt for offenders against the lawï¿½the most effective mode of dealing with criminals, who deserve some punishment less awful than that of death.

Whipping, transportation, silent imprisonment, and imprisonment with hard labour, have all had their advocates, as being most effective for the purpose in view; and if the first of these four has given way before the advanced humanity of English society, the other three still form a debatable ground among thinking persons. Early in the reign of George III, there were so many kinds of crime for which capital punishments were inflicted, that executions used to take place in London nearly every week, giving rise to a very unhealthy tone of feeling among the lower class. It was as a means of devising a severe mode of punishment short of death, that the Hulks on the Thames were introduced, in 1776. 'Hulk' is a nautical name for any old ship, applied to temporary purposes after its sea-going qualities have become impaired; it has often been applied to prison-ships, fashioned out of old men-of-war; but these prison-ships have sometimes been constructed for this special purpose, and yet the term hulk' remains in use as a short and easy designation.

The avowed object in 1776, was 'to employ prisoners in some kind of hard labour for the public benefit;' the severity and the continuance of the labour being made dependent on the good-conduct of each prisoner. Special care was to be taken that the imprisonment, while on the one hand not cruel, should on the other not be comfortable. 'They [the prisoners] are to be employed in as much labour as they can sustain; to be fed with legs and shins of beef, ox-cheek, and such other coarse food; to have nothing to drink but water or small-beer; to be clad in some squalid uniform; never to be visited without the consent of the overseers; and never to be supplied with any gifts from other persons, either in money or otherwise.' The Thames between Woolwich and Barking being much choked with mud, it was deemed a useful work to employ convicts in dredging. A vessel was built, neither a ship, tender, nor lighter, but combining something of all three: on a plan approved by the king in council.

Part of the stern was decked in as a sleeping-place for the convicts, part of the forecastle was enclosed for the overseer, and the rest of the vessel was open. There were overhanging platforms, on which the men could stand to work; and on one of these was `a machine called a David, with a wind-lass, for raising the ballast 'ï¿½which was probably the same thing as sailors now call a davit. The vessel had space for about thirty tons of sand, mud, or ballast, dredged up from the Thames. Such was the hulk or prison-ship, which was placed under the management of Mr. Duncan Camp-bell, a sort of superintendent of convicts. On the 15th of July, in the above-named year, the first party of convicts, chained two and two by the leg, entered the ship, and commenced their labours off Barking Creek. Many violent encounters took place before the convicts could be brought to understand the reality of the system. On one occasion, several of them attempted to get off their chains; they were flogged, and made to work harder as a consequence.

On another occasion, five of them slipped down into a boat, and rowed off; they were pursued, and fired at; two were killed, one wounded, and two recaptured. One day, during a violent north wind, the hulk was driven across from Barking Creek to Woolwich; fourteen of the convicts rose on the keepers, compelled them to keep below, and escaped; a naval officer meeting them on the Greenwich road, persuaded eight of them to return to the vessel; of the six who refused, some were afterwards captured and hanged. In a further instance, eight convicts effectually escaped; they seized the arm-chest, took pistols, intimidated the keepers, and made off in an open boat. This system of working in hulks had a long trial on the Thames, but gradually gave way to other arrangements. BBC - Religions - Christianity: Saint Swithin Saint Swithin Last updated 2011-06-29 The life and death of Saint Swithin, a Saxon bishop whose feast day on the 15th July is said to predict the weather.

On this page St Swithin's day if thou dost rain For forty days it will remain St Swithun's day if thou be fair For forty days 'twill rain na mair Traditional rhyme And if any church fell down, or was in decay, S. Swithin would anon amend it at his own cost. Or if any church were not hallowed, he would go thither afoot and hallow it. For he loved no pride, ne to ride on gay horses, ne to be praised ne flattered of the people... The Golden Legend, a medieval book of saints' stories Saint Swithin was a Saxon bishop. He was born in the kingdom of Wessex and educated in its capital, Winchester. He was famous for charitable gifts and building churches. His feast day is 15 July and his emblems are rain drops and apples. Winchester Cathedral Swithin was chaplain to Egbert, the 802-839 king of Wessex. Egbert's son Ethelwulf, whom Swithin educated, made him bishop of Winchester in 852. Only one miracle is attributed to Swithin while he was alive. An old lady's eggs had been smashed by workmen building a church.

Swithin picked the broken eggs up and, it is said, they miraculously became whole again. Swithin died on 2 July 862. According to tradition, he had asked to be buried humbly. His grave was just outside the west door of the Old Minster, so that people would walk across it and rain fall on it in accordance with Swithin's wishes. On 15 July 971 though, Swithin's remains were dug up and moved to a shrine in the cathedral by Bishop Ethelwold. Miraculous cures were associated with the event, and Swithin's feast day is the date of the removal of his remains, not his death day. However, the removal was also accompanied by ferocious and violent rain storms that lasted 40 days and 40 nights and are said to indicate the saint's displeasure at being moved. This is probably the origin of the legend that if it rains on Saint Swithin's feast day, the rain will continue for 40 more days. Saint Swithin is still seen as the patron of Winchester Cathedral.

Question: In which month does St Swithin's day fall?
Answer: July