The entire series of days constituting the year was represented by notches running along the angles of the square block, each side and angle thus presenting three months; the first day of a month was marked by a notch having a patulous stroke turned up from it, and each Sunday was distinguished d by a notch, somewhat broader than usual. There were indications but they are not easily described�for the Golden Number and the cycle of the moon. The feasts were denoted by symbols resembling hieroglyphics, in a manner which will be best understood by examples. Thus, a peculiarly shaped emblem referred to the Circumcisio Domini on the 1^st of January.

From the notch on the 13^th of that month proceeded a cross, as indicative of the Eiscopal rank of St. Hilary; from that on the 25^th, an axe for St. Paul, such being the instrument of his martyrdom. Against St. Valentine's Day was a true lover's knot, and against St. David's Day (March 1^st), a harp, because the Welsh saint was accustomed on that instrument to praise God. The notch for the 2^nd of March (St. Ceadda's Day) ended in a bough, indicating the hermit's life which Ceadda led in the woods near Lichfield. The 1^st of May had a similar object with reference to the popular fete of bringing home the May. A rake on St. Barnaby's Day (11^th June) denoted hay harvest. St. John the Baptist having been beheaded with a sword, his day (June 24^th) was graced with that implement. St. Lawrence had his gridiron on the 10^th of August, St. Catherine her wheel on the 25^th of the same month, and St. Andrew his peculiar cross on the last of November.

The 23 ^rd of November (St. Clenient's Day) was marked with a pot, in reference to the custom of going about that night bogging drink to make merry with. For the Purification, Annunciation, and all other feasts of the Virgin, there was a heart, though 'what it should import, relating to Mary, unless because upon the shepherds' relation of their vision, Mary is said o have kept all these things and pondered them. in her heart, I cannot imagine,' says our author. For Christmas there was a born, 'the ancient vessel in which the Danes used to wassail or drink healths, signifying to us that this is the time we ought to make merry, cornua, exhaurienda notans, as Wormius will have it.' The learned writer adds; 'The marks for the greater feasts observed in the church have a large point set in the middle of them, and another over against the preceding day, if vigils or fasts were observed boffin them.'

Written and Printed Almanacs

The history of written almanacs has not been traced further hack than the second century of the Christian era. All that is known is, that the Greeks of Alexandria, in or soon after the time of Ptolemy (100-150 A.D.), constructed almanacs; and the evidence for this fact is an account of Theon the commentator on Ptolemy, in a manuscript found by Delambre at Paris, in which the method of arranging them is explained, and the materials necessary for them pointed out. The Greek astronomers were not astrologers. That pretended science appears to have been introduced into Europe from the East, where it has prevailed from time immemorial. Lalande, an assiduous inquirer after early astronomical works, has stated that the most ancient almanacs of which he could find any express mention were those of Solomon Jarchus, published about 1150.

Leonard Digges, a mathematician of some eminence, and the author of two or three practical treatises on geometry and mensuration, was also the author of a Prognostication, which was several times reprinted under his own superintendence, and that of his son, Thomas Digges.' It is not properly an almanac, but a sort of companion to the almanac, a collection of astrological materials, to be used by almanac-makers, or by the public generally. It is entitled 'A Prognostication everlasting of Right Good Elect, fructfully augmented by the Author, containing Plaine, Briefe, Pleasant, Chosen Rules to judge the Weather by the Sunne, Moon, Starres, Comets, Rainbow, Thunder, Clowdes, with other Extraordinary Tokens, not omitting the Aspects of Planets, with a Briefe Judgement ,for ever, of Plentie, Lacke, Sicknes, Dearth, Warres, &c., opening also many naturall causes worthie to be hnowne. To these and other now at the last are joined divers generall pleasant tables, with many compendious rules, easie to be had in memorie, maneifolde wages profitable to all men of understanding. Published by Leonard Digges. Lately Corrected and Augmented by Thomas Digges, his sonne. London, 1605.'

The first edition was published in 1553; the second edition, in 1555, was 'fructfully augmented,' and was 'imprynted at London within the Macke Fryars.' In his preface he thus discourses concerning the influence of the stars (the spelling modernised): 'What meteoroscoper, yea, who, learned in matters astronomical, noteth the great effects at the rising of the star called the Little Dog? Truly, the consent of the most learned do agree of his force. Yea, Pliny, in his History of Nature, affirms the seas to be then most fierce, wines to flow in cellars, standing waters to move, dogs inclined to madness. Further, these constellations rising�Orion, Arcturus, Corona�provoke tempestuous weather; the Kid and Goat, winds; Hyades, rain. What meteorologer consenteth not to the great alteration and mutation of air at the conjunction, opposition, or quadrant aspect of Saturn with either two lights? Who is ignorant, though poorly skilled in astronomy, that Jupiter, with Mercury or with the sun, enforces rage of winds? What is he that perceives not the fearful thunders, lightnings, and rains at the meeting of Mars and Venus, or Jupiter and Mars ? Desist, for shame, to oppugn these judgments so strongly authorised. All truth, all experience, a multitude of infallible grounded rules, are against him.'

In France, a decree of Henry III, in 1579, forbade all makers of almanacs to prophesy, directly or indirectly, concerning affairs either of the state or of individuals. No such law was ever enacted in England. On the contrary, James I, allowing the liberty of prophesying to continue as before, granted a monopoly of the publication of almanacs to the two Universities and the Company of Stationers. The Universities, however, accepted an annuity from their colleagues, and relinquished any active exercise of their privilege. Under the patronage of the Stationers' Company, astrology continued to flourish.

Almanac-making, before this time, had become a profession, the members of which generally styled themselves Philomaths, by which they probably meant that they were fond of mathematical science; and the astrologers had formed themselves into a company, who had an annual dinner, which Ashmole, in his Diary, mentions having attended during several successive years. The Stationers' Company were not absolutely exclusive in their preference for astrological almanacs. Whilst they furnished an ample supply for the credulous, they were willing also to sell what would suit the taste of the skeptical; for Allstree's Almanac in 1624 calls the supposed influence of the planets and stars on the human body 'heathenish,' and dissuades from astrology in the following doggrel lines;

'Let every philomathy
Leave lying astrology;
And write true astronomy,
And I'll bear you company.'

Thomas Decker, at a somewhat earlier period, evidently intending to ridicule the predictions of the almanac-makers, published The Raven's Almanacke, foretelling of a Plague, Famine, and Civill Warr, that shall happen this present yere, 1609. With certain Remedies, Rules and Receipts, &c. It is dedicated ' To the Lyons of the Wood, to the Wilde Buckes of the Forrest, to the Harts of the Field, and to the whole country that are brought up wisely to prove Guls, and are born rich to dye Beggars.' By the Lyons, Buckes, and Harts, are meant the courtiers and gallants, or fast young men' of the time.

There was perhaps no period in which the prophetic almanacs were more eagerly purchased than during the civil wars of Charles I and the parliament. The notorious William Lilly was one of the most influential of the astrologers and almanac-makers at that time, and in his autobiography not only exhibits a picture of himself little creditable to him, but furnishes portraits of several other almanac-makers of the seventeenth century, Dr Dee, Dr Forman, Booker, Winder, Kelly, Evans, &c. The character of

Sidrophel in Iludibras has been supposed to represent Lilly, but probably Butler merely meant to hold up to ridicule and scorn the class of persons of whom Lilly may be regarded as a type. He was evidently a crafty, time-serving knave, who made a good living out of the credulity of his countrymen. He was consulted as an astrologer about the affairs of the king, but afterwards, in 1645, when the royal cause began to decline, he became one of the parliamentary party. He was born in 1602, was educated at the grammar-school of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, came to London when he was about eighteen years of age, and spent the latter part of his life at Horsham, near Waltonon-Thames, where he died in 1681.

In the chapter of his autobiography, Of the Manner how I came to London, he states that he was engaged as a servant in the house of Mr Gilbert Wright, who could neither read nor write, lived upon his annual rents, and was of no calling or profession. He states; 'My work was to go before my master to church; to attend my master when he went abroad; to make clean his shoes; sweep the street; help to drive bucks when he washed; fetch water in a tub from the Thames (I have helped to carry eighteen tubs of water in one morning); weed the garden. All manner of drudgeries I performed, scraped trenchers,' &c ....' In 1644, I published Merlins Anrylicus Junior about April. In that year I published Prophetical Merlin, and had eight pounds for the copy.' Alluding to the comet which appeared in 1677, Lilly says; 'All comets signify wars, terrors, and strange events in the world.' He gives a curious explanation of the prophetic nature of these bodies; ' The spirits, well knowing what accidents shall come to pass, do form a star or comet, and give it what figure or shape they please, and cause its motion through the air, that people might behold it, and thence draw a signification of its events.' Further, a cornet appearing in the sign Taurus portends 'mortality to the greater part of cattle, as horses, oxen, cows, &c.,' and also 'prodigious shipwrecks, damage in fisheries, monstrous floods, and destruction of fruit by caterpillars and other vermine.' Lilly, in his autobiography, appears on one occasion to have acted in one of the meanest of capacities. There is no doubt that he was employed as a spy; but the chief source of income to Lilly, and to most of the other astrologers, was probably what was called casting nativities, and foretelling, or rather foreshadowing, the future events of the lives of individuals; in fact, fortune-telling.

It has been mentioned before that the Stationers' Company had no objection to supply an almanac to the skeptics and scofters who treated the celestial science with ridicule and contempt. Such an almanac was 'Poor Robin, 1664: an Almanack after a New Fashion, wherein the Reader may see (if he be not blinde) many Remarkable Things worthy of Observation, containing a two-fold Kalender�viz., the Julian or English, and the Rozindheads or Fanatics, with their several Saints' Daies, and Observations upon every Month. Written by Poor Robin, Knight of the Burnt Island, a well-wisher to the Mathematics; calculated for the Meridian of Saffron Walden, where the Pole is elevated 52 degrees and 6 minutes above the Horizon. Printed for the Company of Stationers.'

Poor Robin has four lines of verse at the head of each of the odd pages of the Calendar. For instance, under January, we have:

'Now blustering Boreas sends out of his quiyer
Arrows of snow and hail, which makes men shiver;
And though we hate sects and their vile partakers,
Yet those who want fires must now turn Quakers.'

As a specimen of his humour in prose, under January we are told that 'there will be much frost and cold weather in Greenland.' Under February, 'We may expect some showers of rain this month, or the next, or the next after that, or else we shall have a very dry spring.'  Poor Robin first appeared in 1663. Robert Herrick, the poet, is said to have assisted in the compilation of the early numbers. It was not discontinued till 1828. The humour of the whole series was generally coarse, with little of originality, and a great deal of indecency.

In 1664, John Evelyn published his Kalendarium Hortense, the first Gardener's Almanac, containing directions for the employment of each month. This was dedicated to the poet Cowley, who acknowledged the compliment in one of his best pieces, entitled ' The Garden.' It was perhaps in this almanac that there appeared a sage counsel, to which Sir Walter Scott somewhere alludes, as being presented in an almanac of Charles II's time�namely, that every man ought for his health's sake to take a country walk of a mile, every morning before breakfast�'arid, if possible, let it be upon your own ground.'

The next almanac-maker to whom the attention of the public was particularly directed was John Partridge, chiefly in consequence of' Swift's pre-tended prophecy of his death. Partridge was born in 1644, and died in 1714. He was brought up to the trade of a shoemaker, which he practiced in Covent Garden in 1680; but having acquired some knowledge of Latin, astronomy, and astrology, he at length published an almanac. Swift began his humorous attacks by Predictions for the Year 1708, wherein the Mouth and the Day of the Month are set down, the Persons named, and the Great Actions and Events of Next Year particularly related as they will come to pass. Written to prevent the People of England from being further imposed upon by the Vulgar Almanac-makers.

 After discussing with much gravity the subject of almanac-making, and censuring the almanac-makers for their methods of proceeding, lie continues as follows: 'But now it is time to proceed to my predictions, which I have begun to calculate from the time the sun enters Aries, and this I take to be properly the beginning of the natural year. I pursue them to the time when he enters Libra, or somewhat more, which is the busy time of the year; the remainder I have not yet adjusted,' &c. . . . ' My first prediction is but a trifle, yet I will mention it to show how ignorant those Sottish pretenders to astronomy are in their own concerns. It relates to Partridge the almanac-maker. I have consulted the star of his nativity by my own rules, and find he will infallibly die on the 29^th of March next, about eleven at night, of a raging fever; therefore, I advise him to consider of it, and settle his affairs in time.' Partridge, after the 29^th of March, publicly denied that he had died, which increased the fun, and the game was kept up in The Tatler. Swift wrote An Elegy on the Supposed Death, of Partridge, the Almanac-maker, followed by

'THE EPITAPH.

Here, five foot deep, lies on his back
A cobbler, starmonger, and quack,
Who to the stars, in pure good-will,
Does to his best look upward still.
Weep, all ye customers, that use
His pills, his almanacs, or shoes;
And you that did your fortunes seek,
Step to his grave but once a week.
This earth, which bears his body's print,
You'll find has so much virtue in't,
That I durst pawn my ears 'twill tell
Whate'er concerns you full as well
In physic, stolen goods, or love,
As he himself could when above.'

Partridge, having studied physic as well as astrology, in 1682 styled himself 'Physician to his Majesty,' and was one of the sworn physicians of the court, but never attended nor received any salary. His real epitaph, and a list of some of his works, are printed by Granger in his Biographical History. Partridge wrote a life of his contemporary almanac-maker, John Cadbury.

The Vox Stellarune of Francis Moore was the most successful of the predicting almanacs. There has been much doubt as to whether Francis Moore was a real person, or only a pseudonym. A communication to Notes and Queries, vol. iii. p. 466, states that 'Francis Moore, physician, was one of the many quack doctors who duped the credulous in the latter period of the seventeenth century. He practised in Westminster.' In all probability, then, as in our own time, the publication of an almanac was to act as an advertisement of his healing powers, &c. Cookson, Salmon, Cadbury, Andrews, Tanner, Coley, Partridge, &c., were all predecessors, and were students in physic and astrology. Moore's Almanac appears to be a perfect copy of Tanner's, which appeared in 1656, forty-two years prior to the appearance of Moore's. The portrait in Knight's London is certainly imaginary. There is a genuine and certainly very characteristic portrait, now of considerable rarity, representing him as a fat-faced man, in a wig and large neckcloth, inscribed "Francis Moore, born in Bridgenorth, in the county of Salop, the 29^th of January 1656-7.

John Drapentier, delim et scalp." Moore appears to have been succeeded as compiler of the Almanac by Mr. Henry Andrews, who was born in 1744, and died at Royston, Herts, in 1820. "Andrews was astronomical calculator to the Board of Longitude, and for many years corresponded with Maskelyne.and other eminent men." '�Notes and Queries, vol. iv. p. 74. Mr. Robert Cole, in a subsequent communication to Notes and Queries, vol. iv. p. 162, states that he had purchased from Mr. William Henry Andrews of Royston, son of Henry Andrews, the whole of the father's manuscripts, consisting of astronomical and astrological calculations, with a mass of very curious letters from persons desirous of having their nativities cast. Mr W. H. Andrews, in a letter addressed to Mr Cole, says; 'My father's calculations, &c., for Moone's Almanac continued during a period of forty-three years, and although, through his great talent and management, ho in-creased the sale of that work from 100,000 to 500,000, yet, strange to say, all he received for his services was �25 per annum.'

The Ladies' Diary, one of the most respectable of the English almanacs of the eighteenth century, was commenced in 1704. Disclaiming astrology, prognostications, and quackery, the editor undertook to introduce the fair sex to the study of mathematics as a source of entertainment as well as instruction. Success was hardly to have been expected from such a speculation; but, by presenting mathematical questions as versified enigmas, with the answers in a similar form, by giving receipts for cookery and preserving, biographies of celebrated women, and other 'entertaining particulars peculiarly adapted for the use and diversion of the fair sex,' the success of the work was secured; so that, though the Gentleman's Diary was brought out in 1741 as a rival publication, the ladies' Diary continued to circulate independently till 1841, when it was incorporated with the Gentleman's Diary. The projector and first editor of the Ladies' Diary, was John Tipper, a schoolmaster at Coventry.

In 1733, Benjamin Franklin published in the city of Philadelphia the first number of his almanac under the fictitious name of Richard Saunders. It was commonly called Poor Richard's Almanac, and was continued by Franklin about twenty-five years. It contained the usual astronomical information, 'besides many - pleasant and witty verses, jests, and sayings.' Tie little spaces that occurred between the remarkable days of the calendar he filled with proverbial sentences inculcating industry and frugality. In 1757, he made a selection from these proverbial sentences, which he formed into a connected discourse, and prefixed to the almanac, as the address of a prudent old man to the people attending an auction. This discourse was afterwards published as a small tract, under the title of The Way to Wealth, and had an immense circulation in America and England. At the sale of the In-graham Library, in Philadelphia, an original Poor Richard's Almanac sold for fifty-two dollars.

In 1775, the legal monopoly of the Stationers' Company was destroyed by a decision of the Court of Common Pleas, in the case of Thomas Carnan, a bookseller, who had invaded their exclusive right. Lord North, in 1779, brought in a bill to renew and legalize the Company's privilege, but, after an able argument by Erskine in favor of the public, the minister's bill was rejected. The defeated monopolists, however, still kept possession of the trade, by bribing their competitors, and by their influence over the bookmark et. In 1828, The British Almanac of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge was published, and in the course of a few years the astrological portions disappeared from the other almanacs. Several new ones, containing valuable information, have since been presented to the public. But the measure which led to the improvement and great increase of almanacs, was the entire repeal of the stamp-duties thereon, by 3 and 4 Will. IV. c. 37, 13 ^th August 1834. hitherto, the stamp-duty upon each. Moore's Almanac was 15d.

In a letter from Robert Heath, of Upnor Castle, date about 1753, the sheet almanac of the Stationers' Company is stated to sell '175,000, and they give three guineas for the copy; Moore's sells 75,000, and they give five guineas for the copy; the Lady sods above 30,000, and they give ten guineas, the most copy-money of any other. The Gentleman's copy is three guineas, sells 7000. Here are a fine company to write for.' In 1751, he describes White, who computes an ephemeris for the Stationers' Company, as living at Grantham, in Lincolnshire.

The Stationers' Company present annually to the Archbishop of Canterbury copies of their almanacs, which custom originated as follows; When Tenison was archbishop, a near relation of his, who was master of the Stationers' Company, thought it a compliment to call at Lambeth Palace in the Company's stately barge, on the morning of Lord Mayor's Day, when the arch-bishop sent out a pint of wine for each liveryman, with bread and cheese and hot-spiced ale for the watermen and attendants; and this grow into a settled custom; the Stationers' Company acknowledging the hospitality by presenting to the archbishop a copy of the several almanacs which they publish. The wine was served in small two-handled wooden bowls, or small cups, which were provided yearly by the Company. But since the abolition of the procession by water on Lord Mayor's Day, this custom has been discontinued.

Southey, in the Doctor, relates the following legal anecdote, to exemplify how necessary it is upon any important occasion to scrutinize the accuracy of a statement before it is taken on trust. A follow was tried at the Old Bailey for highway robbery, and the prosecutor swore positively to him, saying he had seen his face distinctly, for it was a bright moonlight night. The counsel for the prisoner cross-questioned the man so as to make him repeat that assertion, and insist upon it. He then affirmed that this was a most important circumstance, and a most fortunate one for the prisoner at the bar; because the night on which the alleged robbery was said to have been committed was one in which there had been no moon; it was then during the dark quarter ! In proof of this he handed an almanac to the bench, and the prisoner was acquitted accordingly. The prosecutor, however, had stated everything truly; and it was known afterwards that the almanac with which the counsel came provided, had been prepared and printed for the occasion.

The same writer remembers when a country-man had walked to the nearest large town, thirty miles distant, for the express purpose of seeing an almanac, the first that had been heard of in those parts. His inquiring neighbors crowded round the man on his return. ' Well, well,' said he, 'I know not; it mules and talks. But all I could make out is, that Collop Monday falls on a Tuesday next year.'

THE RIDDLE OF THE YEAR

There is a father with twice six sons; these sons have thirty daughters a piece, party-coloured, having one cheek white and the other black, who never see each other's face, nor live above twenty-four hours.

IMPROVEMENT OF SMALL PORTIONS OF TIME

Among those who have contributed to the advancement of learning, many have risen to eminence in opposition to all the obstacles which external circumstances could place in their way, amidst the tumults of business, the distresses of poverty, or the dissipation of a wandering and unsettled state. A great part of the life of Erasmus was one continued peregrination; ill supplied with the gifts of fortune, and led from city to city, and from kingdom to kingdom, by the hopes of patrons and preferment�hopes which always flattered and always deceived lull � he yet found means, by unshaken constancy and a vigilant improvement of those hours which, in the midst of the most restless activity, will remain unengaged, to write more than another in the same condition could have hoped to read. Compelled by want to attendance and solicitation, and so much versed in common life that he has transmitted to us the most perfect delineation of the manners of his age, he joined to his know-ledge of the world such application to books, that he will stand for ever in the first rank of literary heroes. Now, this proficiency he sufficiently discovers by informing us that the Praise of Folly, one of his most celebrated performances, was composed by him on the road to Italy, lest the hours which he was obliged to spend on horseback should be tattled away, with-out regard to literature.--Johnson.

The Chancellor D'Aguesseau, finding that his wife always kept him waiting a quarter of an hour after the dinner-bell had rung, resolved to devote the time to writing a book on jurisprudence, and, putting the project in execution, in course of time produced a work in four quarto volumes.