218 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[No. TOO. 



We do not make these statements in any vain- 

 glorious spirit. We believe our success is due to the 

 manner in which, thanks to the ready assistance of 

 zealous and learned Friends and Correspondents, we 

 have been enabled to supply a want which all literary 

 men have felt more or less : and believing that the 

 more we are known, and the wider our circulation, 

 the greater will be our usefulness, and the better shall 

 we be enabled to serve the cause we seek to promote. 

 We feel we may fairly invite increased support for 

 " Notes and Queries " on the grounds of what it has 

 already accomplished. 



And so, wishing ourselves many happy returns of 

 this Centenary — and that you, Gentle Header, may be 

 spared to enjoy them. We bid you heartily Farewell ! 



NOTE ON THE CALENDAR. 



What every one learns from the almanac, over 

 and above Easter and its consequences for the 

 current year, is that what happens this year is no 

 index at all to what will happen next year. And 

 even those who preserve their almanacs, and 

 compare them in long series, never have been able, 

 so far as I know, to lay hands upon any law con- 

 necting the Easters of different years, without 

 having had recourse to the very complicated law 

 on which the whole calendar is constructed. 



^Nevertheless there does exist a simple relation 

 which reduces the uncertainty in the proportion of 

 five to two ; so that by means of one ])ast almanac, 

 we may name two Sundays, one or the other of 

 which must be Easter Sunday. I have never seen 

 this relation noticed, though I have read much 

 (for these days) on the calendar : has any one of 

 your readers ever met with it? 



Let us make a cycle of the days on which Easter 

 day can fall, so that when we come to the last 

 (April 25), we begin again at the first (IMarch 22). 

 Thus, six days in advance of April 23, comes 

 March 25 ; seven days behind March 24, comes 

 April 21. 



The following is the rule, after which come two 

 cases of exception : — 



Take any year which is not lenp year, then, by 

 passing over eleven years, we either leave Easter 

 day unaltered, or throw it back a week ; and it is 

 nearly three to one that we have to leave it unal- 

 tered. Thus 1941 is nc)t leap year, and eleven 

 years more give 1932; both have April 13 for 

 Easter day ; but of 1943 and 1954, the first gives 

 April 25, the second April 18. 



Take any j-ear which is leap year, then, by 

 passing over eleven years, we either throw Easter 

 one day forward, or six days back ; and it is about 

 three to two that it will be thrown forward. Thus 



1852 (leap year) gives April 11, but 1863 gives 

 April 5. 



But when, in passing over eleven years, we pass 

 over 1700, 1800, or any Gregorian omission of 

 leap year, the commun year takes the rule just 

 described for leap year; while, if we begin with 

 leap year, the passage over eleven years throws 

 Easter two days forward, or Jive days back. There 

 is another class of single exceptions, occurring at 

 long intervals, which it is hardly worth while to 

 examine. The only ease which occurs between 

 1582 and 2000, is when the first year is 1970. 



Any number of instances may be taken from 

 my Book of Ahnaiiac.i, and the general rule may 

 be easily seen to belong also to the old style. 

 Those who understand the construction of the ca- 

 lendar will very easily find the explanation of the 

 whole. A. De Morgan. 



INEDITED LETTERS OF SWIFT. 



[By the great kindness of a correspondent who has 

 placed at our disposal two hitherto inedited letters 

 written by Swift, we are enabled to present the follow- 

 ing literal copies of them to our readers. 



They are obviously addressed to Frances Lady 

 Worsley, only daughter of Thomas Lord Viscount 

 Weymouth, and wife of Sir Robert Worsley, Baronet, 

 and the mother of Lady Carteret. In Sir Walter 

 Scott's edition of Swift's IVorks (vol. xvii. p. ,302. ) will 

 be found one letter from the Dean of St. Patrick to 

 Lady Worsley ; and in vol. xviii. p. 26. is the letter 

 from that lady to the Dean which accompanied the 

 escritoire alluded to in the second of the two letters 

 which we now print. This appears from Swift's en- 

 dorsement of it — " Lady Worsley, with a present 

 of a writing-box japanned by herself"] 



" Madam, — It is now three years and a half 

 since I had the Honor to see Your Ladyship, and 

 I take it very ill that You h.ave not finished my 

 Box above a Month. But this is allways the way 

 that You Ladyes treat your adorers in their ab- 

 sence. However upon Mrs. Barber's account I 

 will pardon You, because she tells me it is the 

 handsomest jiiece of woik she ever saw ; and be- 

 cause you have accepted the honor to be one of 

 her protectors, and are determined to be one of 

 her jirincipall recommenders and encouragers. I 

 am in some doubt whether envy had not a great 

 share in your work, for you were I suppose in- 

 formed that my Lady Carteret had made for me 

 with her own hands the finest box in Ireland ; 

 upon which you grew jealous, and resolved to 

 outdo her by making for me the finest box in 

 England ; for so Mrs. Barber assures me. In 

 short, I am quite overloaden with favors from 

 Your Ladyship and your Daughter ; and what is 



