s on the wane; and if it is done, the pork will waste in
boiling. 'I have known,' he says, 'the shrinking of bacon in the pot
attributed to the fact of the pig having been killed in the moon's
decrease; and I have also known the death of poor piggy delayed or
hastened so as to happen during its increase.' Truly the old
superstitions die hard!

The moon's supposed influence on the weather is a matter of general
knowledge. The writer last quoted mentions it as a very prevalent belief
that the general condition of the atmosphere throughout the world,
during any lunation, depends on whether the moon changed before or after
midnight. Another superstition is, that if the new moon happens on a
Saturday the weather will be bad during the month. On the other hand, in
Suffolk the old moon in the arms of the new one is accounted a sign of
fine weather; contrary to the belief in Scotland, where, it may be
remembered, in the ballad of Sir Patrick Spens, it is taken as a presage
of storm and disaster.

Shakespeare has many allusions to the moon's influence on the weather,
as: 'The moon, the governess of floods, pale in her anger, washes the
air'; 'The moon, one thinks, looks with a watery eye; and when she
weeps, weeps every little flower'; 'Upon the corner of the moon there
hangs a vaporous drop profound'; and so forth. Then we have the old
proverb: 'So many days old the moon is on Michaelmas Day, so many floods
after.' Other beliefs are mentioned by Mr. Harley, such as, that if
Christmas comes during a waning moon, we shall have a good year, and
the converse; that new moon on Monday is a certain sign of good weather;
that a misty moon indicates heavy rain; that the horns of the moon
turned upward predict a good, and turned downward a bad, season; that a
large star near the moon is a certain prognostication of storm.

In fact, the superstitions in this connection are legion, and are not
confined to any country. They are as common in China, where the moon is
still worshipped, as they are in England, where, in some places, old men
still touch their hats and maidens still bob a courtesy in sight of the
new moon. Thus the relics of moon-worship are about us still, as well as
a strong popular belief that the moon is an active physical agent. That
the actual influence of the moon on the tides lies at the basis of the
belief in its influence on the weather is probable; and, at any rate, it
is curious that the Persians held that the moon