adapted for a scanty light, hearing and smelling co-operate, and the objects of their prey are most accessible. Even among diurnal animals, a cessation of labour frequently takes place during the day. Some retire to the shade; others seek for the coolness of a marsh or river, while many birds indulge in the pleasure of dusting themselves.

Crowing of the Cock. The time-marking propensities of the common cock during the nightseason have long been the subject of remark, and conjectures as to the cause very freely indulged in. The bird, in ordinary circumstances, begins to crow after midnight, and [he also crows] about daybreak, with usually one intermediate effort. It seems impossible to overlook the connection between the times of crowing and the minimum temperature of the night; nor ean the latter be viewed apart from the state of the dew-point, or maximum degree of dampness. Other circumstances, however, exercise an influence, for it cannot be disputed that the times of crowing of different individuals are by no means similar, and that in certain states of the weather, especially before rain, the crowing is continued nearly all day.

Paroxysms of Disease. The attendants on a sick-bed are well aware, that the objects of their anxiety experience, in ordinary circumstances, the greatest amount of suffering between midnight and daybreak, or the usual period of the crowing of the cock. If we contemplate a frame, at this period of the curve, weakened by disease, we shall see it exposed to a cold temperature against which it is ill qualified to contend. Nor is this all; for, while dry air accelerates evaporation, and usually induces a degree of chilliness on the skin, moist air never fails to produce the effect by its increased conducting power. The depressed temperature and the air approaching to saturation, at the lowest point of the curve, in their combined influences, act with painful energy, and require from an intelligent sick-nurse a due amount of counteracting arrangements.' -Dr. John Fleming on the Temperature of the Seasons. Edinburgh, 1852.

THE MONTHS.

Our arbitrary division of the year into twelve months, has manifestly taken its origin in the natural division determined by the moon's revolutions.

The general idea of Cæsar was, that the months should consist of 31 and 30 days alternately; and this was effected in the bissextile or leap-year, consisting, as it did, of twelve times thirty with six over. In ordinary years, consisting of one day less, his arrangement gave 29 days to Febru arius. Afterwards, his successor Augustus had the eighth of the series called after himself, and from vanity broke up the regularity of Caesar's ruary to add to his own month, that it might not arrangement by taking another day from Febbe shorter than July; a change which led to a shift of October and December for September and November as months of 31 days. In this arrangement, the year has since stood in all Christian countries.

The Roman names of the months, as settled by Augustus, have also been used in all Christian countries excepting Holland, where the following set of names prevails:

Winter.

French Months.

English Months.

Signification. J. Vindemaire, Vintage, 2. Brumaire,. Foggy,

.

Sept. 22.

Oct. 22.

3. Frimaire,. Frosty or Sleety,. Nov. 21. 4. Nivose, Snowy,

Dec. 21.

Jan. 20.

Feb. 19.

*Analysis of the Calendar.

Apr. 20.

May 20.

June 19.

July 19. Aug. 18.

Five days at the end, corresponding to our 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th, and 21st of September, were supplementary, and named sans-culottides, in honour of the half-naked populace who took so prominent a part in the affairs of the Revolution. At the same time, to extinguish all traces of religion in the calendar, each month was divided into three decades, or periods of ten days, whereof the last was to be a holiday, the names of the days being merely expressive of numbers-Primidi, Duodi, Tredi, &c. And this arrangement was actually maintained for several years, with only this peculiarity, that many of the people preferred holding the Christian Sunday as a weekly holiday. The plan was ridiculed by an English wit in the following professed translation of the new French Calendar:

'Autumn-wheezy, sneezy, freezy.
Winter-slippy, drippy, nippy.
Spring-showery, flowery, bowery.
Summer-hoppy, croppy, poppy.'

'Thirty days hath September, April, June, and November; All the rest have thirty-one, But February twenty-eight alone, Except in leap-year, once in four, When February has one day more.' Sir Walter Scott, in conversation with a friend, adverted jocularly to that ancient and respectable, but unknown poet who had given us the invaluable formula, Thirty days hath September, &c. It is truly a composition of considerable age, for it appears in a play entitled The Return from Parnassus, published in 1606, as well as in Winter's Cambridge Almanac for 1635.

From what has here been stated introductorily, the reader will be, in some measure, prepared to enter on a treatment of the individual days of the year. Knowing how the length of the year has been determined, how it has been divided into months, and how many days have been assigned to each of these minor periods, he will understand on what grounds men have proceeded in various seasonal observations, as well as in various civil and religious arrangements. He has seen the basis, in short, of both the Calendar and the Almanac.

THE CALENDAR-PRIMITIVE ALMANACS.

It was a custom in ancient Rome, one which came down from a very early period, to proclaim the first of the month, and affix a notice of its occurrence on a public place, that the people might be apprised of the religious festivals in which they would have to bear a part. From the Greek verb kaew, I call or proclaim, this first of the month came to be styled the Kalenda

or Kalends, and Fasti Calendares became a name for the placard. Subsequently, by a very natural process of ideas, a book for accounts referring to days was called Calendarium, a calendar; and from this we have derived our word, applicable to an exposition of time arrangements generally.

At Pompeii there has been found an ancient calendar, cut upon a square block of marble, upon each side of which three months are registered in perpendicular columns, each headed by the proper sign of the zodiac. The information given is astronomical, agricultural, and religious. -Lib. Ent. Knowl.-Pompeii, vol. ii. PP. 287-8. The calendar, strictly speaking, refers to time in general-the almanac to only that portion of time which is comprehended in the annual revolution of the earth round the sun, and marking, by previous computation, numerous particulars of general interest and utility; religious feasts; public holidays; the days of the week, corresponding with those of the month; the increasing and decreasing length of the day; the variations between true and solar time; tables of the tides; the sun's passage through the zodiac; eclipses; conjunctions and other motions of the planets, &c., all calculated for that portion of duration comprehended within the year. The calendar denotes the settled and national mode of regis tering the course of time by the sun's progress: an almanac is a subsidiary manual formed out of that instrument. The etymology of the word almanac has been, perhaps, the subject of more dispute than that of any term admitted into our language. With the single exception of syllable al from the article definite of the Arabic, Verstegan, all our lexicographers derive the first which signifies the; but the roots of the remaining syllables are variously accounted for, some taking it from the Greek μavakos, a lunary circle; others from the Hebrew manach, to count; Johnson derives it from the Greek unv, a month; but why the first syllable should be in one language, which these authorities agree in, and the two last in Whether, therefore, the Saxons originally took any other language, it is not easy to comprehend. their term from the Arabic, either wholly or in part, Verstegan seems the most to be relied on.

64

They," he says, alluding to our ancient Saxon sticks, about a foot in length, or shorter, or longer ancestors, "used to engrave upon certaine squared whole yeere, whereby they could alwaies ceras they pleased, the courses of the moones of the tainely tell when the new moones, full moones, and changes should happen, as also their festivall daies; and such a carved stick they called an al-mon-aght; that is to say, al-mon-heed, to wit, the regard or observation of all the moones; and hence is derived the name of almanac." instrument of this kind, of a very ancient date, is to be seen in St John's College at Cambridge, and there are still in the midland counties several remains of them.'-Brady.*

The Clog Almanac.

An

and inquiring Dr Robert Plot, in his Natural HisThe simple-minded, yet for his time intelligent tory of Staffordshire (folio, 1686), gives an account of what he calls the Clog Almanac, which he found in popular use in that and other northern counties, but unknown further south, and which, from its being also used in Denmark, he conceived to * Analysis of the Calendar, i. 143.

have come into England with our Danish invaders and settlers many centuries before. The clog bore the same relation to a printed almanac which the Exchequer tallies bore to a set of account books. It is a square stick of box, or any other hard wood, about eight inches long, fitted to be hung up in the family parlour for common reference, but sometimes carried as part of a walkingcane. Properly it was a perpetual almanac, designed mainly to shew the Sundays and other fixed holidays of the year, each person being content, for use of the instrument, to observe on what day the year actually began, as compared

tinguished by a notch somewhat broader than usual. There were indications-but they are not easily described-for the Golden Number and the cycle of the moon. The feasts were denoted by symbols resembling hieroglyphics, in a manner which will be best understood by examples. Thus, a peculiarly shaped emblem referred to the Circumcisio Domini on the 1st of January. From the notch on the 13th of that month proceeded a cross, as indicative of the episcopal rank of St Hilary; from that on the 25th, an axe for St Paul, such being the instrument of his martyrdom. Against St Valentine's Day was a true lover's knot, and against St David's Day (March 1), a harp, because the Welsh saint was accustomed on that instrument to praise God. The notch for the 2d of March (St Ceadda's Day) ended in a bough, indicating the hermit's life which Ceadda led in the woods near Lichfield. The 1st of May had a similar object with reference to the popular fête of bringing home the May. A rake on St Barnaby's Day (11th June) denoted hay harvest. St John the Baptist having been beheaded with a sword, his day (June 24) was graced with that implement. St Lawrence had his gridiron on the 10th of August, St Catherine her wheel on the 25th of the same month, and St Andrew his peculiar cross on the last of November. The 23d of November (St Clement's Day) was marked with a pot, in reference to the custom of going about that night begging drink to make merry with. For the Purification, Annunciation, and all other feasts of the Virgin, there was a heart, though 'what it should import, relating to Mary, unless because upon the shepherds' relation of their vision, Mary is said to have kept all these things and pondered them in her heart, I cannot imagine,' says our author. For Christmas there was a horn, the ancient vessel in which the Danes used to wassail or drink healths, signifying to us that this is the time we ought to make merry, cornua exhaurienda notans, as Wormius will have it.' The learned writer adds: The marks for the greater feasts observed in the church have a large point set in the middle of them, and another over against the preceding day, if vigils or fasts were observed before them.'

CLOG ALMANAC.

with that represented on the clog; so that, if they were various, a brief mental calculation of addition or subtraction was sufficient to enable him to attain what he desired to know.

The entire series of days constituting the year was represented by notches running along the angles of the square block, each side and angle thus presenting three months; the first day of a month was marked by a notch having a patulous stroke turned up from it, and each Sunday was dis

Written and Printed Almanacs.

The history of written almanacs has not been traced further back than the second century of the Christian era. All that is known is, that the Greeks of Alexandria, in or soon after the time of Ptolemy (100-150 A.D.), constructed almanacs; and the evidence for this fact is an account of Theon the commentator on Ptolemy, in a manuscript found by Delambre at Paris, in which the method of arranging them is explained, and the materials necessary for them pointed out. The Greek astronomers were not astrologers. That pretended science appears to have been introduced into Europe from the East, where it has prevailed from time immemorial. Lalande, an assiduous inquirer after early astronomical works, has stated that the most ancient almanacs of which he could find any express mention were those of Solomon Jarchus, published about 1150. Petrus de Dacia,

about the year 1300, published an almanac, of which there is a manuscript copy in the Savilian Library at Oxford. In this almanac the influence of the planets is thus stated:

'Jupiter atque Venus boni, Saturnusque malignus; Sol et Mercurius cum Luna sunt mediocres.'

The homo signorum' (man of the signs), so common in later almanacs, is conjectured to have had its origin from Peter of Dacia.

During the middle ages, Oxford was the seat of British science, mixed as that science occasionally was with astrology, alchemy, and other kinds of false learning; and from Oxford the standard almanacs emanated; for instance, that of John Somers, written in 1380, of Nicolas de Lynna, published in 1386, and others.

An almanac for 1386 was printed as a literary curiosity in 1812. It is a small 8vo, and is thus introduced: Almanac for the Year 1386. Transcribed verbatim from the Original Antique Illuminated Manuscript in the Black Letter; omitting only the Monthly Calendars and some Tables. Containing many Curious Particulars illustrative of the Astronomy, Astrology, Chronology, History, Religious Tenets, and Theory and Practice of Medicine of the Age. Printed for the Proprietor by C. Stower, Hackney, 1812. The Manuscript to be disposed of. Apply to the printer. Entered at Stationers' Hall.' The contents are-1. The Houses of the Planets and their Properties; 2. The Exposition of the Signs; 3. Chronicle of Events from the Birth of Cain; 4. To find the Prime Numbers; 5. Short Notes on Medicine; 6. On Blood-letting; 7. A Description of the Table of Signs and Movable Feasts; 8. Quantitates Diei Artificialis. Of the information given under the head, Exposycion of the Synes,' the following extract may serve as a specimen: 'Aquarius es a syne in the whilk the son es in Jan', and in that moneth are 7 plyos [pluviose] dayes, the 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 15, 19, and if thoner is heard in that moneth, it betokens grete wynde, mykel fruite, and batel. Aquarius is hote, moyste, sanguyne, and of that ayre it es gode to byg castellis, or hous, or to wed.' The clumsy method of expressing numbers of more than two figures, shews that the Arabic notation had been but recently introduced, and was then imperfectly understood; for instance, 52mcc20 is put for 52,220.

Almanacs in manuscript of the fifteenth century are not uncommon. In the library at Lambeth Palace there is one dated 1460, at the end of which is a table of eclipses from 1460 to 1481. There is a very beautiful calendar in the library of the University of Cambridge, with the date of 1482.

The first almanac printed in Europe was probably the Kalendarium Novum, by Regiomontanus, calculated for the three years 1475, 1494, and 1513. It was published at Buda, in Hungary. Though it simply contained the eclipses and the places of the planets for the respective years, it was sold, it is said, for ten crowns of gold, and the whole impression was soon disposed of in Hungary, Germany, Italy, France, and England.

The first almanac known to have been printed in England was the Sheapheards Kalendar, trans

lated from the French, and printed by Richard Pynson in 1497. It contains a large quantity of extraneous matter. As to the general influence of the celestial bodies, the reader is informed that 'Saturne is hyest and coldest, being full old,

And Mars with his bluddy swerde ever ready to kyll.

Sol and Luna is half good and half ill.'
Each month introduces itself with a description
in verse. January may be given as an example :
Called I am Januyere the colde.

In Christmas season good fyre I love.
Yonge Jesu, that sometime Judas solde,
In me was circumcised for man's behove.
Three kinges sought the sonne of God above;
They kneeled downe, and dyd him homage, with love
To God their Lorde that is mans own brother.'

Another very early printed almanac, of unusually small size, was exhibited to the Society of Antiquaries on the 16th of June 1842. Dr Bliss brought it with him from Oxford. It had been found by a friend of Dr Bliss at Edinburgh, in an old chest, and had been transmitted to him as a present to the Bodleian Library. Its dimensions were 24 inches by 2 inches, and it consisted of fifteen leaves. The title in black letter, was Almanacke for XII. Yere. On the third leaf, Lately corrected and emprynted in the Fletestrete by Wynkyn de Worde. In the yere of the reyne of our most redoubted sovereayne Lorde Kinge Henry the VII.'

Almanacs became common on the continent before the end of the fifteenth century, but were not in general use in England till about the middle of the sixteenth. Skilful mathematicians were employed in constructing the astronomical part of the almanacs, but the astrologers supplied the supposed planetary influences and the predictions as to the weather and other interesting matters, which were required to render them attractive to the popular mind. The title-pages of two or three of these early almanacs will sufficiently indicate the nature of their contents.

A Prognossicacion and an Almanack fastened together, declaring the Dispocission of the People and also of the Wether, with certain Electyons and Tymes chosen both for Phisike and Surgerye, and for the husbandman. And also for Hawekyng, Huntyng, Fishyng, and Foulynge, according to the Science of Astronomy, made for the Yeare of our Lord God M.D.L., Calculed for the Merydyan of Yorke, and practiced by Anthony Askham. At the end, Imprynted at London, in Flete Strete, at the Signe of the George, next to Saynt Dunstan's Church, by Wyllyam Powell, cum privilegio ad imprimendum solum.' Then follows the Prognostication, the title-page to which is as follows: A Prognossicacion for the Yere of our Lord M.CCCCC.L., Calculed upon the Merydyan of the Towne of Anwarpe and the Country thereabout, by Master Peter of Moorbeeke, Doctour in Phy sicke of the same Towne, whereunto is added the Judgment of M. Cornelius Schute, Doctour in Physicke of the Towne of Bruges in Flanders, upon and concerning the Disposicion, Estate, and Condicion of certaine Prynces, Contreys, and Regions, for the present Yere, gathered oute of his Prognossicacion for the same Yere. Translated