Good riding at two anchors men have told
for if one should break the other will hold
A man of words and not of deeds
is like a garden full of weeds
The higher the plum tree the riper the plum
the richer the cobbler the blacker his thumb
Children pick up words as pigeons pease
and utter them again as God should please.
Our fathers who were wondrous wise
did wash their throats before their eyes
Make haste when you are purchasing a field but when you are to marry a wife be slow.
Let every house sweep the dirt from its own doorstep and then the whole street will soon be clean.
For there be those who wear the lords livery and do the devils work all day long.
So many days old the moon is on Michaelmas Day then so many floods will be that winter
Chelmsford Church and Writtle Steeple
both fell down
but killed no people
Poor Robins Almanac in 1691 provided guidance for most months
January
Roast beef, strong ale, good fires are now three things
which this cold season much contentment brings.
February
The four and twentieth day the stars foretell
of pancakes and of fritters a great smell
and many hundred cocks their death shall meet
by boys throwing cudgels at them in the street
March
Now doth the spring put on her new apparel
and the kind butler broaches a fresh barrel
the days and nights are even without a quarrel
when summer comes winter must take its farewell
April
Now lasses into groves and meadows gets
to gather primroses and violets
but let them heed they do not too far stray
lest their maiden heads do lose that way.
June
Now Phoebus he his greatest strength forth yields
and beggars scorn the barns and lie in fields
if laziness do in some people lurk
a whip laid on their backs will make them work.
August
Now Virgo rules, the maid by whom is born
in her fair hands the ripened ears of corn.
September
This month having an R in't , is the reason
that oysters they do come again in season
October
Fair summer's pride begins to fade away
and night encroach upon the hours of day
the winged choristers do cease their notes
and stately forests don their yellow coats
December
Now stormy blasts enforce the quaking trees
to wrap their trembling limbs in mossy frieze
roast beef, minced pies are good to those that try them
but the worst of it is how to come to them.
Thirty Days hath September
April June and November
Fenbruary has twenty Eight alone
All the rest have thirty one
Excepting leap years, that's the time
When February's days are twenty nine.
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.
So many mists in March you see
So many frosts in May will be.
When Clouds appear like rocks and towers
The earth's refreshed by frequent showers
A red sky at morning - A shepherds warning
A red sky at night- A shepherds delight
The evening red, the morning grey
Are certain signs of a fair day
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