n of this wet
or rainy saint. He was of Saxon descent, and distinguished for his
piety and learning. St. Swithin was buried in the churchyard of
Winchester, and the consecrated spot where his remains rest has been,
we are told, the scene of frequent miracles. In consequence of the
virtues flowing from his body, it was resolved to convey his remains
to the choir of the cathedral, but, on the day appointed for the
removal of his sacred dust, violent rain commenced, which continued
without ceasing for forty days. From this circumstance, it was
inferred that the intended removal of his remains was displeasing to
St. Swithin, and the intention was for a time abandoned. Subsequently
his body was transferred to another resting place, without the
elements or the saint manifesting any displeasure. It is unnecessary
to do more than recall to memory the wide-spread opinion, that if it
rain on St. Swithin's Day, forty days wet weather will follow. Absurd
as this superstition may appear, it has been believed in from the time
of his death, in 862.

St. Margaret, whose festival falls to be held on the 20th July, was
the daughter of an idolatrous priest at Antioch. She became a convert
to the Christian religion, from which she was sought to be seduced by
Olybius, a ruler in the East who sought her hand in marriage. She
refused to forsake the true religion, or to become his wife; and her
refusal was fatal to her. The cruel monster put her to the most
dreadful torments he could invent, and afterwards ordered her to be
beheaded, about the year 275. St. Margaret has been worshipped by the
Eastern and Western Churches, from her supposed power to assist
females in childbirth. It is related that Satan, in the form of a
dragon, swallowed her alive, but that she escaped unhurt from the
monster. Her girdle was long preserved in the abbey of St. Germain, in
Paris; and females were, it was generally believed, undoubtedly
relieved in their hour of suffering by the application of the sacred
relic.

August, formerly called _Sextilis_, was named August in honour of the
Emperor Augustus. And September still retains its original Roman
name--that of the seventh month, though now really the ninth month--in
consequence of the change made by commencing the year in January
instead of March; but the Anglo-Saxons knew it by the name of
_Gerst-monat_, or barley month, because their barley crop was usually
gathered in in this month.

October, known by the S