the Country is thoroughly known, and all those Eminences that can affect the Winds are well considered.

FROM these Reflections the Value of our Shepherd's Observations will clearly appear. He was not Philosopher enough to talk in this Style, but by a long and steady Attention he came to know, experimentally, what perhaps few Philosophers, with all their Sagacity, would have been able to have found out.

XV.

S. W. WINDS. After a northerly Wind for the most Part two months or more, and then coming South, there are usually three or four fair Days at first, and then, on the fourth or fifth Day, comes Rain, or else the Wind turns North again, and continues dry.

THIS is likewise a very judicious and very useful Observation, and yet it is not a difficult matter to account for it. It is a common Observation, and a very true one, that there is usually fair Weather before a settled course of Rain. The Winds that bring the dark rainy Clouds that obscure the Sky, and cause dull cloudy Weather, often raise these Vapours to such a height, that they are attracted into the cold Region above our Sight, till being condensed there, they fall down upon us again in Snow or Rain, according to our Author's Observation.

BUT if, after a seeming Tendency to Rain, there follow several Days of fine Weather, it is a certain Indication that the Temper of the Air is altered, and that these Vapours had been driven off before they had time to condense, which is confirmed by the Change of the Wind on such Occasions.

ALL these Observations are to be understood in a proper Latitude, and not strictly and according to the very Letter. For Rain may fall the sixth or seventh Day, or the Wind may change the second or third. Besides, a Man who would make use of these Observations in the Country, must consider attentively the Situation of the Place where he lives, the bearing of the Sea, Marshes, Ponds, Lakes, Woods, Mountains, Rocks, &c. For without making proper Allowances for these, all such Observations on the Weather will be apt to fail him.

XVI.

If it return to the South within a Day or two without Rain, and turn Northward with Rain, and return to the South, in one or two Days, as before, two or three Times together after this Sort, then it is like to be in the South, or South West, two or three Months together, as it was in the North before.

The Winds will finish these Turns in a Fortnight.

THIS may appear a little perplexed to an ordinary Reader, but a little Attention will make it very clear and plain; and whoever considers what mighty Uses may be made of the Foresight of Weather for a Month or two, will not think this Labour ill bestowed. I must confess I look upon these three Rules in Relation to the Wind as the most useful in the whole Collection. Especially to Farmers and Country People, to whom they are of the greatest Consequence.

BUT it is a common Thing for such People to say, what Certainty is there that these Rules will prove true, what Probability is there that the Wind should continue so long in one Quarter, and then so long in another, how shall we be satisfied that there is any truth in this; or, if we cannot be satisfied as to the Truth of it, why should we depend upon any such like Observations?

TO this I answer, that they may have reasonable Satisfaction given them on this Head. Some of our great Naturalists, who had kept Journals of the Weather for many Years, have found that the same Wind blows every Year very near the same number of Days, and that there is a regular Continuance of different Winds annually in every Country. For Instance,

At Utrecht they blow thus,

IT is a Thing plain to every Capacity, that a Journal or Diary of the Winds may be kept any where, and if from such a Journal it appears that a given Wind blows for a certain Number of Days, then it follows, that if these can be determined with Certainty, the Time of their blowing may also be determined, at least with great Probability, which is as satisfactory an Answer as can be justly expected, because it shews that there is just and rational Ground for confiding in such Observations, when confirmed by long Experience.

XVII.

Fair Weather for a Week, with a Southern Wind, is like to produce a great Drought, if there has been much Rain out of the South before. The Wind usually turns from North to South, with a quiet Wind without Rain, but returns to the North, with a strong Wind and Rain; the strongest Winds are when it turns from South, to North by West.

N. B. When the North Wind first clears the Air (which is usually once a Week) be sure of a fair Day or two.

OBSERVATIONS of this Nature upon Winds have employed the ablest Heads in all Ages. Pliny the great Naturalist has left us a great deal upon this Subject, which plainly proves that it has been the Opinion of the ablest and wisest Men that Study and Experience might reduce even Things of such seeming Incertainty under stated Rules, and within the Bounds of a regular System. For Instance he tells us.

IN order to understand this Notion of Pliny, we need only advert to the Account given us by the Reverend Mr. Robinson, in his natural History of Westmoreland, which is exceedingly curious, and well worthy of the Reader's perusal. This ingenious Gentleman is of Opinion that Winds have their original from the Sea, of which he gives the following very probable Account.