FRENCH or REPUBLICAN CALENDAR.

their acts.

Soon after the government was changed in France, it was decreed, on the 2d of January, 1792, that this year should be denominated the fourth of Liberty on their coins, and in After the death of Louis XVI, in 1793, it was determined that this year should be called the first of the Republic; and this suggested the idea of a Republican Calendar. Accordingly, on the 12th of January, 1793, the Deputy Romme, President of the Committee of Public Instruction under the Convention, applied to the Academy of Sciences for a commission to deliberate on this subject; but M. de la Lande protested against the change of the Calendar. He was obliged, however, to acquiesce, and prepare a new Calendar: after the example of the Egyp tians, he preferred twelve equal months, with five intercalary days, and he adapted their denominations to the climate of Paris, which Fabre d'Eglantine expressed by the following terms, viz. (1.) Vendemiaire, vintage month, commencing September 23. (2.) Brumaire, foggy month, October 23. (3.) Frimaire, sleety month, November 22. (4.) Nivose, snowy month, December 23. (5.) Pluviose, rainy month, January 21. (6.) Ventose, windy month, February 20. (7.) Germinal, budding month, March 22. (8.) * Floreal, flowery month, April 21. (9.) Prairial, meadow month, May 21. (10.) Messidor, harvest month, June 20. (11.) Thermidor, hot month, July 20. (12.) Fructidor, fruit month, August 19. These names are not entirely new, for in a Swedish Calendar of Flora, kept at Upsal by M. Berger, in the year 1755, the months are thus designated: (1.) Reviving winter month, commencing December 22. (2.) Thawing month, March 19. (3.) Budding month, April 12. (4.) Leafing month, May 9. (5.) Flowering month, May 25. (6.) Fruiting month, June 20. (7.) Ripening month, July 12. (8.) Reaping month, August 4.

(9.) Sowing month, August 28. (10.) Shedding month, September 22. (11.) Freezing month, October 28. (12.) Dead winter month, November 25.

This new Republican year is composed of 360 days. The remaining five days are called the complementary days; of which the first is the 18th of September; the second, the 19th; the third, the 20th; the fourth, the 21st; and the fifth, the 22d of September, being the last day of the French year. The first decree was issued the 5th of October, 1793, and it was followed by another on the 24th of November, or the 4th of Frimaire, in the second year of the republic, settling the commencement and organization of the year, and the names of the days and months. The decree of the National Convention comprehends four articles, viz. That the French æra should be reckoned from the foundation of the Republic, September 22, 1792, of the vulgar æra, on the day when the Sun arrived at the true autumnal equinox, in his entrance into the sign Libra, at 9h. 18′ 30′′ in the morning, according to the observatory at Paris; that the vulgar year should be abolished in all civil concerns: that each year should commence at midnight with the day on which the true autumnal equinox falls according to the observatory at Paris: and that the first year of the French Republic had actually commenced at midnight of the 22d of September, 1792, and terminated at midnight between the 21st and 22d of September, 1793. The decree for adopting a rule of intercalation, in order to preserve the seasons at the same epochas of the year, comprises the following four articles: viz. That the fourth year of the Republican æra should be the first sextile; that it should receive a sixth complementary day; and that it should terminate the first Franciade: that the four following secular years in succession should be excepted from the last article; namely the first, second, and third secular years, 100, 200, 300, which

should be common; and that the fourth should be sextile: and that this should be the case every four centuries until the 40th, which should close with a common year, the year 4000.

In this' new calendar, or almanack, the months consist of 30 days each, and are divided into three decades. The days of each decade are known by the name of Primidi, Duodi, Tridi, Quartidi, Quintidi, Sextidi, Septidi, Octodi, Nonodi, and Decadi. The day which begins at midnight is distributed into twelve parts, and these are decimally divided and subdivided. To the five supernumerary days in common years, and six in leap years, was applied the absurd appellation of Sans Culottides, borrowed from a term of reproach (sans culotte) which had been originally bestowed on the republican party, on account of the meanness of their rank and fortune; but which the same party afterwards attempted to render honourable and popular. This appellation also serves to distinguish the leap years.

This new Calendar has been for some time abolished, but the record of it is curious, and worthy of preservation.

ALMANACK-CALENDAR-EPHEMERIS.

All these words describe date-books for the current year, According to Golius, al manach signifies the reckoning,' and is the Arabic designation given to a table of time, which the astrologers of the east present to their princes on New-year's day. Calendar is so called from the Latin calenda, a Roman name for the first day of the month. Ephemeris is a Greek word, signifying for the day. Almanack, therefore, is a divider of time by the year; calendar, by the month; and ephemeris, by the day. Nature's almanack is the orbit of the earth; her calendar, the circuit of the moon; her ephemeris, the circumference of the globe.' 'The French name their annual

anthologies of poetry, Almanacks of the Muses.' 'The gardening book, which directs what work is to be done, what seeds are to be sown, every month, is fitly called the Gardener's Calendar. A daily newspaper might aptly be denominated the Political Ephemeris.'

Verstegan fancies that almanack is derived from allmonath; but if the etymon was Anglo-Saxon, the present form of the word would be allmonth.' The first European date-book, which assumed the title of almanack, is the almanach royale de France of 1579: it includes notices of post-days, fairs, and festivals.

YEARS-MONTHS-WEEKS-DAYS.

Among different nations, the beginning of the year varied as well as the length. The Jews began their ecclesiastical year with the new moon of that month, whose full moon happened next after the vernal equinox. The church of Rome begin their year on the Sunday which falls on the said full moon, or that happens next after it; or on Easter Sunday. The Jews began their civil year with the new moon which has its full moon happening next after the autumnal equinox. The Grecians began their year with the new moon which happened next after the summer solstice. The Romans, according to Plutarch, began their year at March, from the time of Romulus to Numa, who changed the beginning to January. Romulus made the year consist of only ten months, as appears from the name of the last, December, or the tenth month; and that March was the first is evident, because they called the fifth from it quintilis, the sixth sextilis, and the rest in their order. The first month of the Egyptian year began on our August 29. The Arabic and Turkish year began on July 16. The antient Clergy made March 25 the beginning of the year.

The first division of the civil year is into civil months, of

which there are twelve. These cannot be of an equal length, because the number of days in a year is not divisible by 12. There are therefore, in every year, seven months of 31 days each, four of 30 days each, and in the common years one of 28 days, but which contains 29 in every leap year. These are the months used for civil purposes. But the space of 28 days is also called a month, and it is by the division of this into four equal parts that the year is subdivided into weeks, each consisting of seven days. Hence, a common year consists of 13 of these months, or 52 weeks and 1 day; and a leap year of the same, and 2 days.

The days into which the civil year is divided, are called natural, and contain 24 hours. But there is a day called artificial, which is the time from sun-rise to sun-set. The natural day is either astronomical or civil. The astronomical day begins at noon. The British, French, Dutch, Germans, Spaniards, Portuguese, and Egyptians, begin the civil day at midnight; the antient Greeks, Jews, Bohemians, and Silesians, began it at sun-setting, as do the modern Italians and Chinese; and the antient Babylonians, Persians, Syrians, and modern Greeks, at sun-rising. The Jews, Chaldeans, and Arabians, divide the hour into 1080 equal parts, called scruples'.

DAYS OF THE WEEK.

The old Latin names for the days of the week are still retained in the journals of parliament and of medical men; they are as follow, beginning with Sunday-dies Solis, dies Luna, dies Martis, dies Mercurii, dies Jovis, dies Veneris, and dies Saturni. The northern nations substituted, for the Roman divinities, such of their own as

• For an explanation of the Metonic Circle, Golden Number, Cycles, and Dominical Letter, see pp. 91, 120.