ANGELS AND MINISTERS OF GRACE 271
July 25. St. James' Day :
"
Whoever eats oysters on St. James' day will never want money." (M. A.
Denham, " Proverbs and Popular Sayings Relating to the Seasons," Percy
Soc, 1840.)
August 24. St Bartholomew's Day: St. Bartholomew Brings cold dew.
(John Bay, "A Collection of English Proverbs," 2d ed., Cambridge, 1678.)
October 28. St. Simon and St. Jude: Simon and Jude All the ships on the sea home they do crowd.
Dost thou know her then?
Trap. As well as I know 'twill rain upon
Simon and Jude's day next.
(Middleton, " The Roaring Girl," Act 5, Sc 1.)
Now a continual Simon and Jude's rain beat all your feathers as flat down as pancakes! (Idem, Act II, Sc. 1.)
November 11. St. Martin's Day :
Expect St. Martin's summer, halcyon days.
(Shakespeare, "I Henry VI," Act 1, Sc 2.)
December
13. St. Lucy's Day: Lucy [bright] light The shortest day and the
longest night (For a long time, before the change of the calendar, St.
Lucy's Day corresponded to our 21st of December.)
December 21. St. Thomas'Day:
St. Thomas gray, St. Thomas gray The longest night and the shortest day.
December 27. St. John the Evangelist's Day: Never rued the man That lead in his fuel before St. John.
(Robin Forby, " Vocabulary of East Anglia," London, 1830.)
