V. A Table to find the Day of the Week of any given date, from the year 5000 B. C. to the year 2700 of the Christian Era. Explanation of the use of the Table in pages 32 and 33. Any year being given, either before or after Christ, Old or New Style, find the century at the top of the Table in p. 32, and the odd years in the middle column. The square of intersection contains the Dominical Letter for the year. Then look for the given day of the month in the Table above, and the day of the week will be shewn in the column under the Dominical Letter at the right hand. If the given year be a Leap Year, and the month January or February, it must be looked for under the head January, Ly, February, LY. A leap year after Christ is marked by a dot on the right hand; one before Christ is marked on the left. I. SAINTS' DAYS, FIXED FESTIVALS, &c. WE think it right to publish the following classification of the various days which are retained in the Calendar of the Church, and which are still printed in most almanacs. It will be seen from this abstract, § 1 and § 2, that we have retained, in the British Almanac, all those days which are still in any way observed. We have rejected only those which have become entirely obsolete; for the days of this class, of which the offices were entirely abolished at the Reformation, were only retained in the Calendar, out of that respect to established usage which marked the proceedings of those eminent men by whom the liturgy was settled*. There can be no useful reason for continuing to print them in a popular Almanac ;—for if we except Bishop Blas, the saint of the Wool-combers; Crispin, of the Shoe-makers; Leonard, of Prisoners; Clement, of Blacksmiths; and Nicholas, of Sailors and Thieves, there is not a name of the long list forming § 3, whose commemoration in the least degree influences the proceedings of the present time. §1. Fixed Festivals, &c. observed by the Church of England, and for which Offices are appointed. Jan. Feb. 1 Circumcision. 6 Epiphany. 25 Conversion of St. Paul. 30 King Charles I. Mart. 2 Purification (Candlemas Day). 24 St. Matthias Mar. 25 Annunciation. May 1 St. Philip and St. James. June 11 St. Barnabas. 24 St. John Baptist. 29 St. Peter. July 25 St. James. Aug. 24 St. Bartholomew. Sept. 21 St. Matthew. 29 St. Michael. Oct. 18 St. Luke. 28 St. Simon and St. Jude. Nov. 1 All Saints. 5 Gunpowder Plot. 30 St. Andrew. Dec. 21 St. Thomas. 25 Christmas Day. 26 St. Stephen. 27 St. John. 28 Innocents. These days are inserted in the Calendar of the British Almanac, and are there distinguished, as they are in the Calendar attached to the Prayer Book, by Italics. * The Church of Rome, and the Greek Church, have saints for every day in the year. The Reformers of the English Church provided offices only for very remarkable commemorations, and struck out of the Calendar altogether a great number of anniversaries, leaving only those which at their time were connected with popular feeling or tradition. "Our Reformers," says Nicholls, in his Paraphrase on the Common Prayer, "having laid aside the celebration of a great many Martyrs' days, which had grown too numerous and cumbersome to the church, thought fit to retain this day (All Saints'), wherein, by a general commemoration, our church gives God thanks for them all." § 2. Fixed Festivals not observed by the Church of England, but important to be known as regulating Terms of Law and Payments of Rent, or forming Anniversaries of National Observance. Jan. 6 Old Christmas Day. 13 Hilary. Feb. 14 Valentine Mar. 1 St. David.* 17 St. Patrick. Apr. 6 Old Lady Day. 23 St. George. May 13 Old May Day. July 6 Old Midsummer Day. 7 Thomas à Becket. 15 Swithin. Aug. 1 Lammas Day. Oct. 11 Old Michaelmas Day. 11 St. Martin. 22 St. Cecilia. These days are inserted in the Calendar of the British Almanac. 3. Saints' Days, &c. not observed by the Church of England, (though inserted in the Calendar attached to the Prayer Book,) and not important to be known, because they do not regulate Terms of Law or Payments of Rent, and do not form Anniversaries of National Observance. Jan. 8 Lucian. 18 Prisca. 20 Fabian, 21 Agnes. Feb. 3 Blas. March 2 Chad. Aug. 6 Transfiguration. 7 Name of Jesus. 10 St. Laurence. 28 St. Augustine. 29 St. John Baptist beheaded. Sept. 1 Giles. 7 Enurchus. 8 Nat. of B. V. Mary. 7 Perpetua. 12 Gregory. 14 Holy Cross. 17 Lambert. 18 Edward, K. of West Saxons. Sep. 26 St. Cyprian. 6 Faith. 9 St. Denys. 13 Edward the Confessor 17 Ethelreda. 25 Crispin. 26 Augustus, 1st Abp. of Canter-Nov. 6 Leonard. 13 Britius. 15 Machutus. 17 Hugh, Bp. of Lincoln. 20 Edmund, King and Martyr. 23 St. Clement. These days are not inserted in the Calendar of the British Almanac. * This day was omitted in part of the impression of the Almanac for 1830, by a typographical error. " VII. OBSERVATIONS OF A NATURALIST*. JANUARY. Winter Food of Non-Migratory Birds.-The annual migration of birds appears to be much more general in North America than in Europe, owing no doubt to the greater severity of the winters there, which would render it impossible for the soft-billed birds to find food. Even in our own country, some of those which do not migrate are in severe winters exposed to great privations. At first view, it appears not a little singular, that, among birds differing very little in habit, some should remain with us and others should migrate; but a slight knowledge of natural history will lead to a solution of the singularity. Soft-billed birds, like the robin, depend upon caterpillars and worms for their principal food; and as many species of caterpillars live through the winter, such birds are enabled to procure food. In open weather, also, earth-worms occasionally make their appearance, as well as small slugs. The red-breast, accordingly, and more particularly the wren, may be seen prying with a keen eye into the roots of trees and shrubs for the caterpillars which lurk there, and hopping over the grass plots in gardens to pounce upon an earth-worm that may have strayed from its hole; while fl wagtail endeavours to pick up a scanty meal of the small winter gnats which occasionally play about running water in fine weather. The winter supply, however, of live insects would be far from sufficient for the numerous softbilled birds which haunt our woods and hedges in summer; and, therefore, it has been so ordained, that the nightingale, the whitethroat, and many others, should migrate during the winter to a warmer climate, where they can be in little danger of perishing by famine. The swallows, flycatchers, and other birds which capture insects on the wing, would obviously be starved to death at the very commencement of the cold weather. Trees.-There is an effect of exposure which we have remarked as peculiar to some species of trees more than to others, in consequence of the disposition of their main branches. When a tree, for example, is disposed to grow tall and pyramidal, rather than short and spreading, the force of the winds can only bend it; but when it sends out large arms from the top of the main stem, the wind acts upon these as upon a lever, and endeavours to twist the trunks round. Many large old trees may accordingly be seen, the trunks of which are more or less twisted, whilst others of the same age, that have grown in a sheltered situation, are as straight and taper as when they were transplanted from the nursery rows. This remark is well exemplified among the fine chesnut trees in Greenwich Park. It is the disposition of the chesnut to throw out *These observations are partly extracted from the Journal of an observer of Nature, and partly abridged from periodical works of the year. They are to be considered merely as facts in some degree pertaining to the course of the seasons. |