CALENDAR. 



fiuit. It has llkewife forctts of oak, hcccli, alder, pine, 

 birch, &c. which afford timber for the building of fliips 

 and houfes, and all'o wood for fuel and other ufes. It 

 alfo fupplies large breeds of horfes, black cattle, and fliccp, 

 together with venifon and I'lth. In fevcral places are mail- 

 pits, quarries of fiee-llone, and mill-iloncs, with brick-kilns, 

 turf and coal-pits, rich iron ore, and fait fprings. It has 

 alfo numerous manufndories of woollen and linen, cotton and 

 filk, oil-fkins and carpets, leather and paper, and ftonc ware, 

 both for home confuniptioii and for exportation. Its fo- 

 reign trade is greatly facilitated by means of the Wefer, and 

 the country where the Leine lias been rendered navigable. In 

 this principality are 19 cities, the principal of vvliich are 

 Hanover and Gottingen, 1 7 market-towns, 210 L\itheran 

 parochial churches, 5 Calvinillic, 6 Catholic, 2 Lutheran 

 abbie«, one Catholic monadery, 5 Lutheran convents 

 for ladies, and 24,170 taxable hearths. Several of the 

 cities pofl'efs both the civil and criminal jurifdiftion, but in 

 thtfc appeals lie from the magillraie to the upper courts of 

 juflice. The other cities are entirely dependent on the 

 bailiwick. The flates of the country are compofed of the 

 prelates and nobility, which are divided into three depart- 

 ments: viz. thofe of Hanover, Gottingen, and Hameln, 

 with the department of Lavenau. Thefe Hates have their 

 fyndic and other officers, but of the nobility of each depart- 

 ment two provincial deputies are elefled. This principality 

 has a vote both ifi the imperial college of princes and the 

 diets of Lower Saxony. Its matricular afreffment is 22f 

 horfe and 140 foot ; or 686 florinr. All the rivers in this 

 principality difcharge themfelves either into the Leine or the 

 Wefer. 



The bailiwick of Caletiberg is 4 German miles in length, 

 and 3 broad, extending as far as Hanover. The culture of 

 grain and flax is the principal occupation of the inhabitants. 

 In the whole bailiwick are one town, viz. Gehrden, and 60 

 villages. 



CALENDAR, Calendarium, or Kalendar, a dif- 

 tribution of time, accommodated to the ufea of life ; or a 

 table, or almanac, containing the order of days, weeks, 

 months, feafts, &c. happening throughout the year. See 

 Almanac, Timi:, Month, Year, Sic. It is called ca- 

 lendar from the word calemlj:, anciently wrote in large cha- 

 rafters at the head of each month. See Calends. 



The days in calendars were originally divided into oflo- 

 ades, or eighths; but afterwards, in imitation of the Jews, into 

 hebdotiiades, or fevenths ; which cuftom, Scaliger ubferves, 

 was not introduced among the Romans till after the time of 

 Theodofius. 



There are divers calendars, according to the different 

 forms of the year, and diftribvitions of time, eftablifhed in 

 different countries. Hence the Roman, the Jewifti, the 

 Perfian, the Julian, the Gregorian, &c. calendars. 



The ancient Roman calendar is given by Ricciolus, Stru- 

 vius, Danet, and others ; by which we lee the order and 

 number of the Roman ho!y-diys, and workdays. 



The three Cliriftian calendars are given by Wolfius in his 

 Elements of Chronology. 



The Jewiih calendar was fixed by rabbi Hillel, about the 

 year j6o, from which time the days of their year may be 

 reduced to thofe of the Julian calendar. 



Calendar, the Roman, owed its origin to Romulus ; but 

 it has undergone various reformations fince his tiine. That 

 legillator dillributed time into feveral periods, for tlie ufe of 

 the people under his command: but as he was much better 

 verfed in matters of war than of aftronomy, he only divided 

 the year into ten months, making it begin in the fpring, 

 on the iirll of March : imagining the fun made his. courfe 



Vol. V. 



through all the feafons in three hundicd and four days. 

 According to Plutarch, (in Nunia,) llirfc months had no 

 certain or equal number of days, fome confifting of 10, feme 

 of 35, and lome of more. I5ut Macrobius informs us, (Sa- 

 turn. 1. i. c. 12.) that Rcnnihu fettled the numbir of dayj 

 V ith greater equality, alhitling to March, May, Quintili.-, 

 and Oiflober, 31 days; and to April, June, Sextilis, .Sep- 

 tember, November, and December, ",0; making iiji in all 

 304 days. l"rom a paffagc in Plutarch, (ubi fupra,) it ap- 

 pears, that two intercalary months were added to every 

 year ; for he fays, that the Latinn, not underftanding the 

 diifcrence between the folar and luiiar ycaio, neverthelcfs 

 provided, that the year fl.ould contain ,'?6o days. But 

 thefe intercalary months were not infeited in the caler.dar. 

 To thefe no names were affixed until the fucceeding leign. 



The calendar of Romulus was reformed by Numa, who, 

 at firll, intended to make a crmplcte lunar year of 354 

 days. With this view, he added 50 days to the 304, which 

 had been divided into 10 months. From every one of the 

 months of 30 days, he borrowed one day, which he added 

 to the 50 already mentioned : of thefe 56 days he compofed 

 two months, calling the one Januaiy, and the other Eebru. 

 ary. Not long afterwards, he added one day to January ; 

 and thus made his year to confill of 355 days ; adding one 

 odd day more than he ought to have done, merely out of 

 fuperflition, to make the number fortunate. However, he 

 would not allow more than 28 days for .February ; and, 

 therefore, that month was always accounted unlucky. 

 Moreover, he transferred the beginning of the year from 

 March to January, reckoning March the fecond, April the 

 third, S:c. ; placing February in the end of the calendar. 

 (Ovid. Fall. 1. ii. v. 47.) In order to adjull the lunar year 

 to the folar, he added 90 days in eight ye:irs ; becaufe the 

 latter is 1 15: days greater than the former, and 115X8 = 90. 

 Of thefe 90 days, four months were compofed, confiRing of 



22 and 2,3 days alternately ; and one was intercaLttd every 

 two years ; i. e. to the fecond year 22 days were addi.d ; to 

 the fourth 2.3 days; to the fixth 22 days ; and to the eighth 



23 days ; in all 90 days. The intercalary month formed of 

 thele days was called " Mercedinus," or " Mercedonius," 

 from the Latin word " merces," fign fying wages, pro- 

 bably, becaufe this time was appointi-d for the payment of 

 workmen and domeftics ; and it was inferted after the 23d 

 of February ; and the remaining five days of that month 

 were lubjonitd. By thefe intertalati:.ns, the quantity of 

 the year became too great ; and the excefs in eight years 

 amounted to 8'' l"" zrj' ^6" nearly. To cut oil" this excefs, 

 it was propofed, in every third odlcnnial period, that is, 

 from 16 to 24 years, to infert not 90, but 66 days, or three 

 mouths of 22 days, a quantity llill too great by 4'' 28' 20"; 

 but fufficiently accurate for all the purpofes of common life. 

 The year of Numa admitted of no alteraTioii until the year 

 B. C. 452, when the decemviri changed tlie order of the 

 months, reckoning January the firft, February the fceond, 

 March the third, &;c. This arrangement has never been 

 dillurbed. 



However, the intercalations above mentiontd being ill 

 obfcrved by the pontiffs, to whom Numa committed the 

 care of them, occafioncJ great diforders in the coiillitu;ion 

 of the year, which Julius Cxfar, with the advice and af- 

 fiftance of Sofigcnes, a celebrated mathematician of Alex- 

 andria in Egypt, undertook lo rcflify, A. U. C. 708. B.C. 

 46. He found that the months had confiderably r-ceded 

 from the feafons to which tlity had been adjufted by Numa, 

 and that the difpcnfation of time in the calemlar could never 

 be fettled on any fure footing, without having regard to 

 the annual courfe of the fun. In order to bring forward the 



5 D months 



