CHRONOLOGY. 45 



to 1 1 days. Thcfe 1 1 days have therefore been 

 refcinded from the calendar, and this lad re- 

 formation is called the New Stile, and has been 

 adopted by all the nations of Europe, 



XII. The names of the months, and the num- 

 ber of days they contain, are to be found in all 

 almanacs. The Romans reckoned at firft only 

 jo months, from whence came the names Sep- 

 tember, October, November, December. They 

 had alib a peculiar method of counting the days. 

 The firft day in each month they called the Ca- 

 lends. The calends were followed in the months 

 of March, May, July, and October, by fix No- 

 nes, and in the other months by four Nones. 

 Thefe Nones were alfo followed by eight Ides, 

 and the reft of the days were called the Calends 

 of the fucceeding months j as appears by thefe 

 verfes : 



Prima dies menfis cujufque eft difta Calends. 

 Sex MaiuS) Nonas, Oflober^ Julius & Mars, 

 Quatuer at reliqui -, dabit Idus quilibet ofto. 

 Inde dies reliquos omnes die ej/e Calendas. 



All this was counted backward. We begin 

 the year with the firft day of January, as did Ju- 

 lius Caefar ; and which is nearly at the time 

 that the fun enters the fign Capricorn. 



XIII. The Egyptian years of Nebuchadnezzar 

 arc all of 305 days, and the twelve months 

 of 30 days, which making only 360 ; th 



live 



