peaking at a political meeting in Aberdeen, on the 22nd of
September, 1885, the Earl of Iddesleigh approved the superannuated
notion of lunar influence, and likened the leading opponents of his
party to the old and new moon. "What signs of bad weather are
there which sometimes you notice when storms are coming on? It
always seems to me that the worst sign of bad weather is when you
see what is called the new moon with the old moon in its arms. I
have no doubt that many of you Aberdeen men have read the fine
old ballad of Sir Patrick Spens, who was drowned some twenty or
thirty miles off the coast of Aberdeen. In that ballad he was
cautioned not to go to sea, because his faithful and weatherwise
attendant had noticed the new moon with the old moon in its lap. I
think myself that that is a very dangerous sign, and when I see Mr.
Chamberlain, the new moon, with Mr. Gladstone, the old one, in his
arms, I think it is time to look out for squally weather."--_The
Standard_, London, Sept. 23rd, 1885.

The Scottish ballad of Sir Patrick Spens, which is given in the
collections of Thomas Percy, Sir Walter Scott, William Motherwell,
and others, is supposed by Scott to refer to a voyage that may really
have taken place for the purpose of bringing back the Maid of
Norway, Margaret, daughter of Alexander III., to her own kingdom
of Scotland. Finlay regards it as of more modern date. Chambers
suspects Lady Wardlaw of the authorship. While William Allingham
counsels his readers to cease troubling themselves with the
historical connection of this and all other ballads, and to enjoy
rather than investigate. Coleridge calls Sir Patrick Spens a "grand
old ballad."

_Greeting the New Moon in Fiji_.

_Vide_ p. 212.

"There is, I find, in Colo ('the devil's country' as it is called), in the
mountainous interior of Viti Levu, the largest island of Fiji, a very
curious method of greeting the new moon, that may not, as few
Europeans have visited this wild part, have been noticed. The
native, on seeing the thin crescent rise above the hills, salutes it with
a prolonged 'Ah!' at the same time quickly tapping his open mouth
with his hand, thus producing a rapid vibratory sound. I inquired of
a chief in the town the meaning and origin of this custom, and my
interpreter told me that he said, 'We always look and hunt for the
moon in the sky, and when it comes we do so to show our pleasure
at finding it again. I don't know the meaning of it; our