CALENDAR. 



periods, the true pliafcs of tlic moon would precede thofe 

 fliewn by the calendar, by more lljan a whole day. At 

 the time when the Gregorian Calendar was full introduced, 

 the error thus occafioned amounted to four days ; and if 

 the old method of computation had continued, the ca- 

 lendar, in time, would have announced the full moon at the 

 time of the change, and Eader would have been celebrated 

 at a period direftly oppofite to that ellablilhed by the 

 church. It was nccelfary, therefore, to dtvife fom^ mtttiod 

 for correfting thefe errors; and Lilins was fo fortunate as to 

 difcover, that the 19 years or cycle of Mctoji had a parti- 

 cular property, which woidd render it fubfervieiit to the 

 purpofcs required. The new and full moons, which, ac- 

 cording to Meton, were imagined to iiappen at the fame time 

 precifely as they had occurred 19 years before, were ufu- 

 ally indicated in the following manner : they obferved on 

 what day of each calendar month the new moon fell in 

 each year of this period, and againll thofe days thty placed 

 the number anfwcring to that year, reckoning from I to IQ, 

 through all the years of the cycle. Thefe numbers were 

 called " Primes," or, " Golden Numbers" (which fee) ; but 

 as I^ilins found thum to be erroneous and inronvtnicnt, he 

 rcjefted them from his fyllem, and made ufe of others, call- 

 ed " Epatts," in their lUad. See 1". pact. Thefe epafts, 

 being placed againll the days of the month in the caLndar, 

 on which the new moons fell in each year, would have an- 

 fwered the fame purpole with the gulden numbers ; and if 

 the Metonic cycle had been complete, the form would have 

 required no alteration : but this is not the cafe, for after 

 about 16 of thefe periods, or 300 years, the new moons 

 arriving fooner by 24 hours, would happen on the preced- 

 ing day ; and, therefore the epafts anfwering to thofe new 

 moons ought to be augmented by unity. For, fuppofing 

 that the fecond year of the lunar cycle had 11 for theepadf, 

 then, becaufe the new moon, in the preceding year, arrived 



11 days before the end of December, after 300 years, the 

 fame new moon, of the firll year of the cycle, would arrive 



12 days before the end of the year , and, coufequently, the 

 fecond year ought now to have 12 for the epaft. This 

 number 12, therefore, will be the index of the new moons 

 in that fecond year ; and it is eafy to perceive, that all 

 the new moons which happen fooner by a day will take 

 place upon the day preceding that which in the former 

 period was marked 11. After 500 years more, the epafl 

 will be 13, which will be a day ftill preceding tliat in the 

 latter period : and the fame will happen with all the other 

 epafts of the cycle. It was this kind of analyfis that fug- 

 gefted to Lihus the idea of placing the epa£lo in their natural 

 order againlt the days of the new moons in every year, for 

 the firft 300 years ; and after that period, to pkce them in 

 the order i, 11, 23, 4. '5. 26, ;. iS, 19, 10, &c. inftcad 

 of the former one j and fo on. 



This arfangcment was fimple and ingenious ; but the 

 omiffion of 3 days in every 400 years was a circumllance 

 that occafioned fomc embarrafTment. Thefe years having 

 a day lefs than in the Julian account, the new moons would 

 happen a day later, and, coufequently, the epaft, at the 

 end of the year, mull be diminilhed accordingly. l!ut as 

 this order is only interrupted once in 100 years, I.ilius ima- 

 gined, that by fubtrafting unity from each of the epacls 

 belonging to thofe new moons, they might be made to 

 ferve for the fubfequent century. And as there are only 

 30 poffible feries of thefe numbers, it was fuffieient to 

 fhew by a table, what feiies belonged 10 every century, by 

 which the times of thenew moons might be readily difcovered. 



When pope Gregory had refornoed the calendar in the man- 

 ner above Hated, he ordered all the ecclefiaftics undsr his jurif- 



diflion to conform to this nfw mctliod of reckoning, and ex- 

 horted tiie Chriftian princes to adopt it in their ilom^'iions. 

 Accordingly it was immediately introduced into all catholic 

 countries. Ju .Spain, Portugal, and part of Italy, it was re- 

 ceived dn the fame day as at Rome ; but it was not admitted in 

 France until the month of December, when the lOth was 

 reckoned the 20th day, according to letlrrs patent of king 

 Henry III. dated the 3d nf Noveiuber preceding. The ca- 

 tholic flates in Germany adopted the Gregorian calendar, 

 A.D. ijy.,'. But the protcllant dates at that timenfufed it. 

 The reformed religion was in its infancy ; the zeal ofitspro- 

 fidors was violent, andtheiroppofition to thtpopc unbounded. 

 Whatevci- bore the appearance of his authority was rejected 

 as an luiwarrantablc •-jicroaehmcnt upon their newly -acquir- 

 ed liberties ; and though the propriety of the alteration was 

 acknowledged, it was condemned on account of its origi- 

 nating with a party fo extremely obnoxious to them, 

 llenee arofe a difl'erence of 10 days between the methods 

 of reckomng afterwards ufed in Catholic and Proteftant 

 countries. When a bifftxtilc was fupprelfcd, the difference 

 amounted to n days. This difference between the old and 

 new llyle, as the Julian and Gregorian accounts are generally 

 called, occafioned great confulion in the commercial affairs of 

 the diffc-rrnt Itatei of Europe ; liiid therefore the Gregorian 

 ilyle was, at length, generally received. 'I'he Protellant (late* 

 in Germany reformed their c.ilendar in Feb. A. D. i;oo. 

 The new llyle was introduced into Deimiark about the fame 

 time; and into Svveden, March 175,-. In Great Britain the 

 inconvenience arifuig from thefe two modes of reckoning was 

 much felt, and feveral attempts were made to introduce tlie 

 reformed calendar. But papular prejudices were for a long 

 time too obllinate to be eauly overcome. The mathema- 

 ticians, indeed, more influenced by fcientific confiderations 

 than by cavils about points of religion, inceffantly urged 

 the neceflity of fome corredion, and propofed various me- 

 thods of effefting it, which might be adopted without in- 

 flaming the minds of the multitude. Among others it was 

 propofed, that an adi fhould be paffed, declaring that there 

 (bould be no leap-year for 40 years to come, by which 

 means, the 10 days that had been gained by the old ac- 

 count would have been imperceptibly loll, and the old 

 flyle reduced to the new, without any fenfible variation in 

 the fixed times of feafts and other obfervances. A pro- 

 pofal of this kind was fent to Dr. VVallis, profeffor of geo- 

 metry at Oxford, for his opinion ; but the doctor, with a 

 degree of prejudice altogether inconfiffent with his exten- 

 five erudition, obferved, that the propofal was fpecious 

 enough in appearance ; but that the hand of Joab might be 

 perceived iu it. He imagined it to have originated with 

 the papills ; and though he acknowledged the propriety of 

 it, he was afraid of its being adopted, lell it fliould open 

 the door to further encroachments. But though all propo- 

 fals were at that time rcjeded, thofe who wilhed for a re- 

 formation Hill renewed their applications ; and in 1752, an 

 act of parliament, after much debate, was obtained for this 

 purpofe. As 170 years had elapfed fince the Gregorian 

 alteration took place, the old ftyle had confequeiilly gained 

 above a day more upon the courfe of the fun than it had at 

 that time : it was therefore enafted, that, inftcad of cancel- 

 ling 10 days, as the Pope had done, 1 1 days (hould be left 

 out of the month of September ; and, accordingly, on the 

 2d day of that month, the old (lyle ceafed, and the next 

 day, inllead of being the third, was called the 14th. Sec 

 Style. By the lame aft, the beginning of the year was 

 changed from the .£5th of March to the ill of January. 

 Ruffia is the only civilized Hate of Europe that now retains 

 the old ftyle. 



5 D Z CALEKDAKi 



