A L M 



A L U 



biouglit to the caliph, under an unanimous fentcnce of con- 

 demnation by the council : " Your counCcllors (f.iid Ibra- 

 him), judged according to the cullomary rules of political 

 government : if you pardon me, you will not, indeed, judge 

 according to precedent, but you will have no equal among 

 fovcreigns." The caliph then tenderly embracing him, re- 

 plied, with great emotion, " Uncle, be of good cheer ; I 

 will not do you the leaft injury :" and he not only pardoned 

 him, but granted him a rank and fortune fnitable to his birth. 

 Upon being complimented by his courtiers for this generous 

 aft, he exclaimed, in the fnlncfs of his heart, " Oh 1 did 

 men but know the pleafurc I feel in pardoning, all who have 

 offended me would come and confefs their faults !" Modern 

 Un. Hift. vol. ii. p. 176 — 202. Montucla Hilt, des Ma- 

 thematiijuts, tom. i. p. 356T— 359. 



AI.MANA, in yinatnt Geography,?!, town of Macedonia, 

 mentioned liy I.ivy, fituate on the river Asius, and probably 

 not far from Bylazora. 



ALMANAC, a calendar or table, in which are fet down 

 the days and fealls of the year, the rihng and fetting of the 

 fun, the couric and ph.afes of the moon, the eclipfes of both 

 luminaries, fee. for each month of the year. 



The original of the word is much controverted among 

 grammarians. — Some derive it from the Arabic particle nl 

 and iih'tmch, ti count ; whence is naturally enor.gh derived al 

 manach, the diary. Others, and among them Scallger, rather 

 derive it from aJ, and ^aia.«o,-, the courfo of the nionths ; 

 which is contradifted by Goliiis, who advances another opi- 

 nion. He fays, that, throughout the Eaft, it is the cuftom 

 for fubjefts, at the beginning of the year, to make prefents 

 to their princes ; and, among the rell, the aftrologen; prefent 

 them with their cphemerides for the year enfuing ; whence 

 thofe ephemerides came to be called ahnanha, i. e. hand- 



fcls, or new-year's gifts To fay no more, Verllegan writes 



the name almon-at ; and makes it of Saxon original. Our 

 anceftors, he obferves, uied to carve the courfes of the m,oon, 

 of the whole year, upon a fquare ftick, or block of wood, 

 which they called nl-mnnaght , q. d. aU-mooiiheed. 



The ufe of almanacs or diaries, containing a great variety 

 of aftrological and agricultural records,andof othcrsfandfioned 

 by a prevalent fuperllition, was very common among the 

 Arabians ; and it is natural to imagine, that from them, by 

 means of the Saracens, it was introduced into European na- 

 tions. The prefent form and method of almanacs have been 

 afcribed to Regiomontanus, who is faid to have firil publifh- 

 ed, in 1474, an almanac, refembhng that of the moderns, and 

 containing the charafters of each year and month, predic- 

 tions of eclipfes and other celellial phafes, calculations of the 

 motions of the planets, &c. 



The modern almanac anfwers to the Fasti of the ancient 

 Romans. 



For the conftru£lion of an almanac: ift. Compute the 

 fun's and moon's place for each day of the year ; or take 

 them from ephemerides. 2d. Find the dominical letter, and, 

 by means of it, diltribute the calendar into weeks. 3d. 

 Compute the time of Eafter, and thence lix the other move- 

 able feafts. 4th. Add the immoveable feafts, with the names 

 of the martyrs. 5th. To every day add the fun's and moon's 

 place, with the rifmg and fetting of each luminary ; the 

 length of day and night ; the twilight, and the afpefts of 

 the planets. 6th. Add, in the proper places, the chief 

 phafes of the moon, and the fun's entrance into the cardinal 

 points, i.e. the folftices and equinoxes; together with the rifing 

 ■and the fetting, efpecially heliacal, of the planets, and chief 

 fixed ftars ; means for each of which will be found under 

 the proper heads. The duration of the twilights, or the end 

 of the evening and beginning of the morning twilight ; to- 



gelhcj- with the fun's rifmg and felting, and the length of days' 

 may be transferred Irom the almanac of one year into that of 

 another ; the differences in the feveral years being loo fmall 

 to be of any confideration in civil life. 



Hence it appears, that the condruftion of an almanac is 

 neither myllerious nor difficult ; if acccfs be had to the tables 

 of the heavenly motions. 



Some divide almanacs into public and private, perfeft and 

 imperfeiil, heathen and chridian, book-almanacs and (heet- 

 almanacs. Public almanacs are thofe of a larger fi/.c, fnch 

 as (lieet almanacs, ufually hung up for common or family ufe ; 

 private are thofe of a fmaller form, of which there is a great 

 variety, to be carried about either in the hand, infcribed on a 

 ftatf, or in the pocket : perfeft almanacs are thofe which luvc 

 the dominical letters, a» well as primes and feafts infcribed 

 on them ; imperfeft are thofe which have only the primes 

 and immoveable feafts. Till about the fourth century, al- 

 ir.anacs bear the marks of heathenifm ; from that age to the 

 ieventh, tiiey are generally divided between heathenifm and 

 chrifti;\nity ; and from that time they have been altogether 

 cl'.riftian. 



Almanacs vary in their contents and the mode of their 

 compofition ; fome containing moi-e points, others fewer,. 

 The eflential part is the calendar of months and days, with 

 the rifing;- and fettings of the fun, age of the moon, &e. To 

 thele are added various ])arcrga, afti-onomical, allrological, 

 meteorological, chronological, and even political, rural, medi- 

 cal, &c. ; as calculations and accounts of eclipfes, folar in- 

 greffes, afpedls and configurations of the heavenly bodies, 

 lunations, heliocentrical and geocentrieal motions of the pla- 

 nets, pi'ognoftics of the weather, and prediftions of other 

 events, tables of the planetary motions, the tides, tcnns, in- 

 tereft, twilight, equation, kings, &c. 



Henry HI. of France very prudently decreed, by an or- 

 donnance of 1579, that ' no almanac-maker fhould prefume 

 ' to give prediftions relating to civil affairs, either of ftatcs, 

 ' or private perfons, in teims either exprefs or covert. 



The almanac, annexed to the book of Common Prayer, is 

 part of the law of England, of which the courts mull take 

 notice in the returns of writs, &c. For afcertaining many 

 circumftances relative to a particular day paft, the court hath 

 determined by an infpedlion of the almanac. Upon a writ 

 of error fi'om an inferior court, the error afligned was, that 

 the judgment war, given on a Sunday, the day being 26 Feb. 

 26 Eliz.; and it appeai-ing, by infpefiion of the alma- 

 nacs of that year, that the 26th of February actually 

 fell upon a Sunday, this was held to be a fnffieient trial, 

 and that a trial by Jury was not neceiTary, although it was 

 an error in taft ; and fo the judgment was reverfed. But in 

 all thcfe cafes, the judges, if they conceive a doubt, may or- 

 der it to be tried by Jury. Blackft. Com. vol. iii. p. 333. 

 For every almanac or calendar for one year or lefs, the fol- 

 lowing ftamp duties fliall be paid, viz. 

 id 9 Ann. c. 23. §. 23. 



1 30 Geo. II. c. 19. §. 1. 



2 21 Geo. III. c. 56. §. I. 

 4 37 Geo. III. c. 90. §. I. 



In the whole amount the ftamp duty is yd. And for every 

 almanac ferving more than a year, the fame duty fhall be paid 

 for each year : but perpetual almanacs pay for three years 

 only. 9 Ann. c. 23. 30 Geo. II. c. 19. and by 10 Ann. 

 c. 19. all books and pamphlets ferving chiefly to the pur- 

 pofe of almanacs, fhall be charged as fnch. If an almanac 

 contains more than one fheet, one fhcct only need be ftamped ; 

 and eveiy almanac fhall be fo printed that foinc part of the 

 print (liallbe upon the ftamp. 9 Ann. c. 23. 1). 26. 21 Geo. 

 III. c. 56. §. 3. Selling almanacs unftairped incurs a pe- 

 nalty. 



