''There  are  so  many  invisible  eclipses  this  year,  that  I
fear,  not  unjustly,  our  pockets  will  suffer  inanition,  be  full
empty,  and  our  feeling  at  a  loss  During  the  first  visible
eclipse  Saturn  is  retrograde :  For  which  reason  the  crabs
will  go  sidelong  and  the  ropemakers  1  ackward.     The  belly

will  wag  before,  and  the shall  sit  down  first.    Mercury

will  have  his  share  in  these  affairs,  and  so  confound  the
speech  of  the  people,  that  when  a  Pennsylvanian  would
say  Panther  he  shall  say  Painter.  When  a  New  Yorker
thinks  to  say  This,  he  shall  say  Diss,  and  the  People  in
New- England  and  Cape  May  will  not  be  able  to  say  Cow
for  their  Lives,  but  will  be  forc'd  to  say  Keow  by  a  certain


POOR   RICHARD'S  ALMANAC.
589


involuntary  Twist  in  the  Rcot  of  their  Tongues.  No  Con-
necticut-Man nor  Marylandcr  will  be  able  to  open  his
Mouth  this  Year,  but  Sir  shall  be  the  first  or  last  Syllable
he  pronounces,  and  sometimes  both.  Brutes  shall  speak
in  many  Places,  and  there  will  be  above  seven  and  twenty
irregular  Verbs  made  this  Year,  if  Grammar  don't  inter-
pose.    Who  can  help  these  Misfortunes  !

''of    the    DlSEASeS    THIS    YEAR.
''This  Year  the  Stone-blind  shall  see  but  very  little;
the  Deaf  shall  hear  but  poorly  ;  and  the  Dumb  shan't  speak
veiy  plain.  And  it's  much,  if  my  Dame  Bridget  talks  at
all  this  Year.  Whole  Flocks,  Herds  and  Droves  of  Sheep,
Swine  and  Oxen,  Cocks  and  Hens,  Ducks  and  Drakes,
Geese  and  Ganders  shall  go  to  Pot ;  but  the  Mortality  will
not  be  altogether  so  great  among  Cats,  Dogs  and  Horses.
