CHRONOLOGY. 



October of the same year, the tenth of 

 which month was, by an ordinance of 

 Henry HI. reckoned the twentieth clay. 

 In Germany it was adopted by the Catho- 

 lic states in 1583, but the" Protestant 

 states adhered to the old calendar until 

 the year 1700. Denmark also adopted 

 it about this period, and Sweden in 

 1753. It was not used in England before 

 1752, when, by act of Parliament, the 

 style was changed, and the third of Sep- 

 tember was reckoned the fourteenth, the 

 difference having by this time increased 

 to eleven days. Russia is the only coun- 

 try in Europe in which the old mode of 

 reckoning- is still in use. 



The want of some specific standard, 

 which could be regarded as common to 

 all nations, has occasioned great diversity 

 in different countries in fixing the be- 

 ginning of the year. The Chaldaeans and 

 Egyptians reckoned their years from the 

 autumnal equinox. The Jews also reck- 

 oned their civil year from this period, 

 but began their ecclesiastical year in the 

 spring. Gemschid, the King "of Persia, 

 ordered the year in that country to com- 

 mence at the vernal equinox. In Sweden 

 the year formerly commenced at the 

 winter solstice. The Greeks used differ- 

 ent methods, some of the states begin- 

 ning the year at the vernal, others at the 

 autumnal equinox, and some at the sum- 

 mer solstice. The Roman year at one 

 time began in March, but afterwards was 

 made to commence in January. The new 

 year's day of the Church of Rome is fix- 

 ed on the Sunday nearest the full moon 

 of the vernal equinox. In England, the 

 year began in March until A. D. 1752, 

 when the act of Parliament which altered 

 the style ordained it to commence on the 

 first of January. 



Having thus given a short account of 

 the lunar and solar years which have 

 been mostly in use, and an acquaintance 

 with which is of most consequence in 

 chronology, it will be proper just to no- 

 tice some combinations of years which are 

 mentioned in ancient history, and there- 

 fore proper to be known. 



Lustra. The Romans sometimes reck- 

 oned by lustra, a period of five years, 

 which derived its name from a census 

 instituted by Servius Tullius, which was 

 to be paid by the Roman people every 

 fifth ye-ar. 



The Olympiads were, however, the 

 most remarkable of these combinations. 

 They consisted of four Grecian vears, 

 and derived their names from the pub- 

 lie games celebrated every fourth year 



at Olympia, in Peloponnesus. These 

 games were instituted in honour of Ju- 

 piter, but at what time, or by whom, is 

 not known. After they had been ne- 

 glected and discontinued for some time, 

 they were restored by Iphitus, King of 

 Elis, in the year B. C. 776 ; and it is from 

 this date that the Olympiads are reckon- 

 ed in chronology. 



Cycles are fixed intervals of time, com- 

 posed of the successive revolutions of a 

 certain number of years. The lustra and 

 the olympiads may perhaps be included 

 under this name, but the term is more 

 commonly appropriated to larger inter- 

 vals, connected with the periodical re- 

 turn of tertain circumstances and appear- 

 ances. The great use made of cycles in 

 chronology requires that they be parti- 

 cularly noticed. 



From the defective nature of the 

 Greek calendar, the Olympic year, as it 

 has been called, was subject to consider- 

 able variation ; and, from the retroces- 

 sion of the months which it occasioned, 

 producing a gradual change of the sea- 

 sons when the games were, to be cele- 

 brated, led to much inconvenience. 

 Cleostrates, a mathematician of Tene- 

 dos, endeavoured to give it a more per- 

 fect form, by inventing a cycle or' eight 

 years : this, however, being computed by 

 lunar years, still left the calendar subject 

 to great inaccuracies. To rectify these, 

 Meton, a mathematician of great celebri- 

 ty, invented 



The Lunar Cycle, a period of nineteen 

 solar years, at the end of which interval 

 the sun and moon return to very nearly 

 the same part of the heavens. This im- 

 provement was at the time received with 

 universal approbation ; but not being 

 perfectly accurate, was afterwards cor- 

 rected by Eudoxus, and subsequently by 

 Calippus, whose improvements modern 

 astronomers have adopted. 



The use of this cycle was discontinued 

 when the games, for the regulation of 

 which it was composed, ceased to be 

 celebrated. The Council of Nice, how- 

 ever, wishing to establish some method 

 for adjusting the new and full moons to 

 the course of the sun, with the view of 

 determining the time of Easter, adopted 

 it as the best adapted to answer the pur- 

 pose : and from its great utility, they 

 caused the numbers of it to be writ- 

 ten on the calendar in golden letters, 

 which has obtained for it the name of 

 the golden number. The golden number 

 for any year is found as follows : The 

 first year of the Christian sera corresponds 



