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For a particular account of Sunday, the Christian Sabbath, see as ante p. 105, (note 2.)

MONDAY. (Saxon, " Monan-Dæg") was dedicated by the Romans, as well as the Saxons, to the moon, and called " Dies Lunæ"-feria secunda -(the second Holy-day.) In the northern, and many of the eastern languages, the moon is considered as of the masculine gender, and the sun as of the feminine, and the wife of Tuisco; while the Romans considered the sun as the husband of the moon. The Saxon idol was represented as a woman in a man's coat, with a hood and two long ears, and picked shoes; holding a moon before her breast.

TUESDAY. (Saxon, " Tues-Dæg;" Roman, "Dies Martis," feria tertia) was so named from Tuisco, the most ancient god of the Germans, so called from Tuv, the Saxon word for Mars, and from whom the Germans and Dutch have derived the terms Tuytsh and Tuytshland, and Duytsh and Duytshland. The figure of the Saxon idol bears a greater resemblance to Mercury than Mars.

WEDNESDAY. (Saxon, "Wodens-Dæg," or "Odins-Dæg;" Roman, "Dies Mercurii,” feria quarta) was named from Woden, or Odin the God of War of the Northern Nations, and from whom the Anglo-Saxons of the Heptarchy affected to derive their descent. Dr. Henry supposes it to have been originally a name of the one true God; but afterwards applied to the great warrior who lead the immense armies from the East that conquered, and peopled the northern parts of Europe.

THURSDAY. (Saxon, "Thures-Dæg," or the Thunderer's-day ; Roman," Dies Jovis,” feria quinta; whence the French Jeu-di and English Jove's day) was dedicated to the worship of Thor, a Saxon, and Teutonic idol, worshipped as the bravest of the sons of Odin. He bore the figure of a monarch, or warrior with a crown of gold, and 12 golden stars surrounding it; but in Lapland the idol was formed of the stump of a tree with a man's head carved; with pieces of flint and steel stuck in it; and a hammer, and bow and arrow, placed near it, to enable the god to strike a light, and drive off evil spirits!

FRIDAY. (Saxon, " Frigas-Dæg," Roman, " Dies Veneris," feria sexta) was dedicated by the Romans to the Goddess Venus; but by the Saxons to Friga, as the Queen of the Gods, or according to others, to Freya, an attendant upon Friga, and considered as "the Goddess of Love." The idol was represented as of both sexes, with a drawn sword in one hand, and a bow in the other; signifying to the martial females of that day, that in times of danger, women as well as men should be ready to fight. Odin and Friga were the chief Pagan divinities of the North.

SATURDAY. (Saxon, "Seater-Dæg," Roman, "Dies Saturni," feria

septima.) This idol was represented holding a wheel, the emblem of time, in his left hand, and in his right a pail of water with flowers and fruits; and from these accompaniments it is probable that Seater and Saturn were the same divinity.

OF THE MONTHS.

Ir is observable that in almost every language, the term denoting this portion of time is derivable from the MOON; as indeed the apparent course of this body would naturally define it. (See Ecclus. xliii. 8.) Of all chronical terms, this, and that of year have the greatest variety. Astronomers distinguish months into solar, or the 12th part of the solar year, containing 30 days, 10 hours, 29 min. 5 sec.-and Lunar, either synodical, or when again in conjunction with the sun, 29 days, 12, 44′, 3′′, 11′′ -periodical, when again at the same point, 27 days, 7", 43′, 8′′, or illuminative, from time to time of the same appearance. For an account of each month, see post," The Calendar."

OF YEARS.

THE word Year is derivable in the Hebrew, the Greek, and the Latin, from words indicating motion in a "circle ;" and the Egyptians represented Time itself, as well as the Year, by a serpent bent round, and biting its tail. If the term may be applied to other planets as well as the Earth, then Saturn's year is as long as thirty of ours-Jupiter as twelveand Mars as two. (For an account of the solar and lunar years as now ascertained, see ante, p. 111.) The ancients had discovered that there was a slow motion in the visible universe, which would carry the whole through a complete revolution in about 25,900 years; and this they called the Platonic, or "Great Year." Modern astronomers have ascertained that the pole, the two solstices-the equinoxes--and all other points of the ecliptic, have a retrograde motion, from east to west, by which the equinoctial points are carried back about 50 seconds every year; this is called "the precession of the equinoxes," as it makes the fixed stars appear to go forward; and this motion would cause a complete revolution in a little less than 26,000 years, or according to Cassini 24,800 years; when the seasons, having changed their appearance throughout the whole 12 months, would return to the same again.

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THE CALENDAR.

REMARKABLE DAYS.

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JANUARY, xxxI. Days.

THIS month was so named by the Romans from JANUS, one of their divinities, whom they formed with two faces, looking opposite ways; one, aged, regarding time past; the other young, and looking forward to time coming. Janus was feigned to be the door-keeper of Heaven, and hence probably his name was given to this, the first of months, and commencement of the year, as opening a door (which the Romans called Janua) to a new course of events. The month in Teutonic is Jenner, the name of our illustrious countryman. The Saxons called it " Wolf Monat," or Wolf Month.

NEW YEAR'S DAY. The first of January (the Calends) was kept as a festival by the Heathens, who sacrificed on that day to Janus, the divinity of the month. By the Christians it was observed as a fast; until A. D. 487, when it was called the " octave of Christmas." The custom of giving " New Year's gifts" existed with the Romans, who made presents of dried figs, honey, dates, &c. The Saxons carried about the Wassail bowl, a term originating in the health drank by Rowena to Vortigern, "Was hal," or "health to you." The New Year's gifts became, under the term " Tokens," a vehicle for bribery, and in A. D. 1290, the judges, many of whom had been sent to the Tower and fined for bribery and injustice, were forbidden to accept of them. From this custom arose the giving money to buy gloves, and pins, at a time when both these articles were highly estimated; the former for their great price; and the latter for their superior utility, and convenience to the wooden skewers before in use. Hence the terms "Glove-money" and " Pin money.”

CIRCUMCISION of our LORD. See post, Collect, &c. for that day. EPIPHANY, or The ManifestaTION OF CHRIST TO THE GENTILES. See post, Collect, &c. for the day.

TWELFTH DAY. The origin of the practice of drawing for King and Queen, &c. over the Twelfth Cake, on this day, is involved in

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obscurity, like that of many other customs of apparently greater moment. Some trace it to a play of the Roman children who drew beans at the end of the Saturnalia for the same purpose; and this classical origin seems countenanced by the amusement having prevailed in our Universities, where the decision was made by beans found in the cake.

Others imagine in it a faint resemblance of the offerings made to the new born Saviour, by the Magi, or Wise Men of the East, of gold, frankincense, and myrrh; and their opinion seems countenanced by the ceremony performed in this country, as, on this day, the Monarch, either personally, or by his Chamberlain, makes a similar offering. The old Calendars notice that on the Vigil of this day "Kings were "elected by beans," and the day was called "the festival of Kings." In the time of King Elfrid the twelve days after the nativity of Our Saviour were declared to be festivals. The festivities of Twelfth Day are still kept up at Rome, in France, &c. and in Spain the day is called "the feast of Kings."

PLOUGH MONDAY, (improperly Plow) is the first Monday after Epiphany, or Twelfth Day; and was probably so called by our ancestors from their resuming the plough and their usual work, after the festivities of Christmas. The ancient mode of celebrating this day, was by dragging a plough from door to door, while (a part of the custom never neglected) the drawers, &c. solicted plough money. In the northern parts of England, where old customs are longer kept up than in the southern, they have a pageant of grotesque figures, both male and female, with the "fool plough," dancers, and music, part of which, and probably not the least acceptable to the performers, is the jingling of the money collected, in a box. In the less civilized parts of Germany young women are yoked to the plough, and at the end of the exhibition, dragged into a pool of water.

PRINCESS CHARLOTTE OF WALES born.-Her Royal Highness Charlotte Augusta, daughter, and only child of His Royal Highness George, Prince Regent, and Caroline Amelia Elizabeth, daughter of the late Duke of Brunswick, was born at Carlton House, the Palace of the Prince Regent, on Thursday, the 7th of January, 1796, between 9 and 10 o'clock in the morning. In pursuance of the powers vested by the laws of England in the reigning monarch, her Royal Highness was placed by his Majesty under the tutorage of the Bishop of Salisbury, whose accomplishments and amiable manners rendered him peculiarly fitted for this important office, and have always given him

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an influence with his illustrious pupil greatly honourable to both parties. Her Royal Highness is the heiress presumptive (yielding only to male issue) to the crown of the British dominions.

LUCIAN, Priest and Martyr, a native of Samosata in Syria and Presbyter of Antioch, celebrated for his knowledge in polite literature, and his intimate acquaintance with the Hebrew. He published an edition of the Septuagint, and New Testament, which Jerome does not commend, but they were much esteemed at Constantinople, and Antioch. Lucian has been suspected of Arianism, but Athanasius defended him. During the persecution of the Christians in the reign of Maximin, he was commanded by the Emperor himself, to renounce Christianity; which he not only refused to do, but entered into a most animated explanation, and defence of it, for which he was hurried to prison, and put to death A. D. 312, probably by torture, but this is not certainly known. This name, with those of several canonized persons, which had been expunged from the books of Edward VI. was restored to the Calendar, by the second Reformers, under Queen Elizabeth, but they were prohibited from being kept holy.

HILARY (Hilarius) Bishop and Martyr, Bishop of Poitiers, flourished about A. D. 355. He was descended from an illustrious Pagan family, and after his conversion to Christianity wrote twelve books on the Trinity, a Treatise on Synods, and Commentaries on several books of the Scriptures. He was an active opposer of the Arians, for which he was banished by the Emperor Constantius A. D. 5 6; and after travelling in different parts, and under many sufferings, he died about A. D. 367, at the advanced age of 80 years, near 60 of which he had laboured for the establishment of the orthodox faith. He is said to have been the first who composed hymns to be sung in Churches; and from his name, as standing at this period of the year, the first law, and University term takes its appellation.

QUEEN CHARLOTTE's birth day kept. The real day of her Majesty's birth, viz. the 19th of May (which see) being so near that of the King, it was thought that the commercial interests of the metropolis, if not of the country at large, would be benefitted by celebrating them on more distant days; therefore one is kept in January, and the other in June.

PRISCA, Virgin and Martyr. A Roman lady converted at an early age to Christianity, and tortured, and beheaded, A. D. 275, for refus. ing to abjure it.

120 FABIAN, Bishop and Martyr, was the 19th Bishop of Rome, an

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