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 na mair.

LXXI.

To make your candles last for a', You wives and maids give ear-o! To put 'em out's the only way, Says honest John Boldero.

LXXII.

[The following is quoted in Miege's Great French Dictionary,' fol. Lond. 1687, 2d part.]

A SWARM of bees in May
Is worth a load of hay;
A swarm of bees in June
Is worth a silver spoon;
A swarm of bees in July
Is not worth a fly.

LXXIII.

THEY that wash on Monday
Have all the week to dry;
They that wash on Tuesday
Are not so much awry;
They that wash on Wednesday
Are not so much to blame;
They that wash on Thursday,

Wash for shame;

They that wash on Friday,

Wash in need;

And they that wash on Saturday,

Oh! they're sluts indeed.

LXXIV.

NEEDLES and pins, needles and pins,

When a man marries his trouble begins.

LXXV.

[One version of the following song, which I believe to be the genuine one, is written on the last leaf of MS. Harl. 6580, between the lines of a fragment of an old charter, originally used for binding the book, in a hand of the end of the seventeenth century, but unfortunately it is scarcely adapted for the "ears polite" of modern days.]

A MAN of words and not of deeds
Is like a garden full of weeds;
And when the weeds begin to grow,
It's like a garden full of snow;
And when the snow begins to fall,
It's like a bird upon the wall;
And when the bird away does fly,
It's like an eagle in the sky;
And when the sky begins to roar,
It's like a lion at the door;
And when the door begins to crack,
It's like a stick across your back;
And when your back begins to smart,
It's like a penknife in your heart;
And when your heart begins to bleed,
You're dead, and dead, and dead, indeed.

LXXVI.

HE that would thrive

Must rise at five;

He that hath thriven

May lie till seven ;

And he that by the plough would thrive,

Himself must either hold or drive.

LXXVII.

SEE a pin and pick it up,
All the day you'll have good luck;
See a pin and let it lay,

Bad luck you'll have all the day!

LXXVIII.

Go to bed first, a golden purse;
Go to bed second, a golden pheasant;
Go to bed third, a golden bird!

LXXIX.

WHEN the wind is in the east,
"Tis neither good for man nor beast;
When the wind is in the north,
The skilful fisher goes not forth;
When the wind is in the south,

It blows the bait in the fishes' mouth;
When the wind is in the west,

Then 'tis at the very best.

LXXX.

[The following proverb is alluded to in Clarke's Phraseologia Puerilis,' 12mo, Lond. 1655, p. 21. See also Brand's Popular Antiquities,' vol i, p. 266, and the Archæologist,' p. 182.]

BOUNCE BUCKRAM, velvet's dear;

Christmas comes but once a year.

DOCTOR FAUSTUS was a good man,
He whipt his scholars now and then;
When he whipp'd them he made them dance
Out of Scotland into France,

Out of France into Spain,

And then he whipp'd them back again!

LXXXII.

A DONKEY walks on four legs,

And I walk on two;

The last donkey I saw

Was very like you.