APPENDIX. 113 



ecclesiastical computation, we might refer them to the 

 second or third century.* Gruter has delineated one at 

 Rome, and which is said to have been used by the Goths 

 and Vandals : this was cut in elm, though most are in box, 

 and some few in fir, brass, horn, &c. Each of these 

 calendars contains four sides, for the four quarters of the 

 year, and gives the golden numbers, epacts, dominical 

 letter, &c. The numerical notation is imperfect but curi- 

 ous ; dots are put for the first four digits, a mark similar to 

 the Roman numeral V, for five ; this mark, and additional 

 dots for the next four, and the algebraical sign + for 

 ten. Specimens of these logs may be seen in the British 

 Museumf ; and, as they are not uncommon, it is unnecessary 

 to enter into further detail. 



Before I commence with written almanacs, it will be neces- 

 sary to remark the distinction between astronomical and 

 ecclesiastical calendars, the first of which contain astrono- 

 mical computations, and the other lists of saints' days, and 

 other matters relative to the church ; sometimes, indeed, 

 both are found united, although the latter claim a higher 

 antiquity, being prefixed to most ancient Latin manuscripts 

 of the Scriptures. 



The folding calendars were, perhaps, the most ancient 

 forms of them, and merit particular attention. Several of 

 these are in the British Museum,J and at Oxford ; one of 

 them was written in the year 1430, and is in English ; but 

 the writer confesses his inability to find suitable expressions 



* MS. Harl., Mus. Brit., 5958. 



f MSS. Harl., 197, 198. The last of these is a modern one used in 

 Derbyshire or Staffordshire, and cut, probably, in the latter part of the 17th 

 century : the other one is much earlier, though perhaps not of very high 

 antiquity. Others may be seen in the Ashmolean Museum, and in St. John's 

 College, Cambridge. I refer to Dr. Plott's History of Staffordshire for 

 a very good description of them. (See also Brady's Clavis Calendaria.) 



% Cotton Rolls, viii. 26 ; MSS. Harl. 937, 3812, 5311 ; MSS. Sloan. 996, 

 2250 ; which last is the calendar of John Somers, afterwards mentioned. 

 There is also one in the Ashmolean collection at Oxford in singularly fine 

 preservation. 



