The interval is immense between corporeal qualifications and sciences: the body in a moment is extinct, but knowledge endureth to the end of time.

Meaning: The rhyme presents a spring ague as medicine fit for a king. It gives a feverish illness a surprising positive value rather than simply treating it as misfortune.

Meaning: April’s wind is pictured as a horn announcing favourable conditions for hay and corn. The saying links an early-season sign with a hoped-for later yield.

Meaning: The saying takes a fair, clear twenty-fourth of August as grounds for hope about the coming autumn. One day is made a sign of a much longer period.

Meaning: The saying uses a sloe tree’s white blossom as a cue to sow barley. It gives a visible plant sign priority over whether the immediate weather is dry or wet.