There is, of course, no truth in this old adage, although there are some people who still profess to believe in it. The men whose business it is to watch the weather day by day and write down all they observe, will tell you that it does not matter in the least, as far as the rain of the following forty days is concerned, whether it is wet or dry on the 15th July. It is even very doubtful whether the ceremony of removing the Saint's body was marked by any special downpour of rain; the fact is not mentioned by the chroniclers of that time. Like many other things connected with holidays and holy days this legend regarding St. Swithin has its origin, probably in the heathen times that preceded Christianity. That would account, at least, for the curious fact that there are several rainy Saints in Europe. MICHAELMAS DAY. The 29th September is dedicated as a feast day in the Christian Church to St. Michael and All Angels. In the Bible the Angel Michael is mentioned several times, and always as a fighter, especially against Satan. Thus you find it stated in the Epistle of Jude that Michael the Archangel contended with the Devil regarding the body of Moses. In the book of the Revelation of St. John, again, you will find it written that there was war in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old Serpent, called the Devil. He was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. You will gather from this that St. Michael always appears in the character of a warrior; and as the Christian Church accomplished a great deal of fighting, especially during the time of the crusades, it can easily be understood that the warlike Archangel was popular. In old pictures he is usually represented in a coat of mail, and with a short spear in his hand, hurling Satan downwards to the earth. John Milton, in his "Paradise Lost," makes full use of this conception of the Archangel, only that he puts a great and marvellous sword into his hand: "The sword Of Michael from the armoury of God Was given him tempered so, that neither keen Nor solid might resist that edge; it met The sword of Satan, with steep force to smite Descending, and in half cut sheer; nor stayed, But, with swift wheel reverse, deep entering shared All his right side: Then Satan first knew pain."