The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-07-07 00:00:00

THE CALENDAR

(From the Saturday Magazine.)
1.. Golden Number
2.. Epact
3.. Solar Cycle
4.. Sunday Letters
5.. Roman Indiction
6.. Number of Direction
7.. Julian Period
The terms used at the head of this paper are usually the
Chronological and Common Notes of the Almanac or Calendar.
The Calendar is an adjustment of time, according to rule,
for the use of society. The term " Calendar" is derived from
an old classic word implying to• call, from the circumstance
of the Pontifex Maximus, the head of the Roman priests
proclaiming, on the first day of the month, the date of the
appearance of the new moon, and the festivals to be observed
during the month.
In the early stages of society, the progress of time was es-
timated by the courses of the sun and moon ; the former
marking out years, seasons, and days ; and the latter months
and weeks.

17
26
1
E&D
13
29

But, it has been most difficult to determine with accuracy
the month and the year; since the revolution of neither the
sun nor the moon is completed in an exact number of days.
To reconcile the revolutions of the sun and moon, with the
common account of time, and to make them agree with each
other, was the object held in view upon reforming the Calen-
dar on the following remarkable occasions :

I. I, Julius CEesar being convinced by the Greek astro-
nomer, Soigenes, that the year then employed was too short,
and that it could never be properly settled but by referring
it to the apparent annual revolution of the sun, and finding
that about ninety days had been lost by the old reckoning,
made the first Julian year to consist of 444 days, which was
in consequence called the "sear of confusion." This year
was thus made to terminate at the proper season. The fol-
lowing years with the months, were then adjusted nearly as
they are at present, and as the year was from that time made
to consist of 364- days, a day was inserted every fourth year,
between the 6th and sth of the Calends of March, (which
days answer to the 24th and 25th of February ;) so that the
6th day of the Calends of March being repeated, there were
accounted to be two sixth days of the Calends of March, and
the day thus inserted was named bissextus dies, or the double-
sixth day ; whence we call Leap-year, in which this addition
is made, Bissextile.

11. But as the year does not consist of quite 3651 days, it
was found in the sixteenth century after the birth of Christ,
that the civil year was ten days in advance of the course of
the sun. The Calendar was, therefore, again corrected by
Pope Gregory the Thirteenth, A.D. 1382. This, which is
called the new style, was adopted in England, A.D. 1732.
The regulations assumed in this second reformation of the
Calendar, are such as reckoning from the 16th century, will
make the civil years and the course of the sun to differ after
the lapse of 4000 years, only to the amount of one day !
The notes given at.the head of this article were the ele-
ments employed in the correction of the Calendar; and we
proceed briefly to explain :-
1. The Golden number is the number which any given
year holds in the Lunar Cycle, which is a period of nineteen
years, at the lapse of which the new moons take place on the
same days of the same mouths respectively as at the com-
mencement of the cycle. Therefore, while the sun performs
its annual course nineteen times, those of the moon amount
to 235. The importance of this discovery in the regulation
of time was held to be so great, that the rule for ascertaining
the year in the Lunar Cycle was inscribed in letters of gold
on a tablet set up in the market-place of Athens, in Greece.
Hence the term Golden number. The rule is given in the
Calendar which prefaces the Church service.
-- 2. -The Epact is the number of days over and above all
the complete courses of the moon, for any number of years,
in any part of the Lunar Cycle. Hence, it is the moon's
age at the beginning of any year; that is, the number of days
which have elapsed since the new moon in the preceding
year. _ _

3. The Solar Cycle is a period of 28 years, which, owing
to leap year, must necessarily pass round before the days of
the month can return respectively to the same days of the
week as at the commencement of the Cycle.
4. The Dominical or Sunday Letter is one of the first let-
ters of the alphabet; which letters are used to denote re-
spectively the (lays of the week, and one of which letters must
of course fall to the Sunday throughout the year. But owing
to the leap year, their order is every fourth year disturbed ;
so that the Solar Cycle must pass round before the letters can
fall respectively to some days of the week. The present be-
ing leap-year, there are two. Sunday letters ; the left-hand
letter is used till the end of February, and the other till the
end of the year. . _ __ _ . . .

5. Roman Indiction was a period of fifteen years appointed
by the Emperor Constantine, A.D. 312, for the payment of
certain taxes from the subjects of the empire.
6. The Number of Direction. It having been decided by
an assembly of Christian bishops at the Council of Nice, in
Asia, A.D. 325, the Easter Day is always " the first Sunday
after the Full Moon which happens upon, or next after, the
21st march," it follows that Easter Day cannot take place
earlier than the 22d of March, or later than the 25th of April,
so that from one date to the other (both inclusive) are 35
days. The number of direction is that day of the 35 on which
Easter Sunday. falls.

7. The Julian Period consists of 7980 years ; which is
produced by,the multiplication into each other of the Solar
Cycle, the Lunar Cycle, and the Roman Indiction,
(28 x 19 x 15. = 7980). This period is reckoned from 709
years before the creation of the world, when the three cycles
are supposed to commence together ; which circumstance
cannot take place again until the lapse of the entire period,

A. D. 3267.
The Roman Indiction and the Julian Period are not now
of practical use in the calendar ; but the other observations
will serve to assist those who wish to understand the calen-
dar, which is prefixed to the church service, in the prayer-
book.

RIMBAUD WINE.--Let the stalks be at least of full
growth, cut them in pieces into a pan, pour boiling water on
them, and macerate till soft, but not into a pulp ; let them
stand till next day ; strain and proceed as for gooseberry
wine ; with respect to proportions, about Tte-third more by
weight than of gooseberries. It is aperient, but mild,—
Map. of Domestic Economy.

TEE SPEEDWELL MINE, CASTLETON.--,--The guides hay-
ing arrived, we proceeded, through a small spar-depot,. to
descend one hundred and six steps ; and, at the foot, were
handed into a deep-sided, but rather narrow boat, partially
extending from the mouth of a tunnel just wide enough to
admit the same; and of sufficient height from the water to
allow of our sitting erect. The guide and his assistant then
pushed us along in a straight line for the distance of 750
yards; one of them .now and then leaving small pieces of
lighted candle on each side at transverse angles, which pro-
duced a very pretty effect. When our boat accidentally
struck against the flinty side of this excavation, the noise
resembled distant thunder. On stepping out of the boat, we
found ourselves in an immense cavern, called "The Devil's
Hall ;" said to be 300 yards from its base to the surface of
the earth ! The guide told us, that rockets had proved the
cavern alone to be 150 yards high ! To convince us of this,
he ascended, by means of ladders fastened in the side, to a
great height, where he placed on a projecting or table rock,
what in excess of modesty was termed a " Bengal light,"
whose lurid influence enabled us to gaze on naught but wide
interminable space ! Yes, as incredulity melted away, w
were half inclined to believe the truth of his assertion, partly
on account of the vast distance the eye is enabled to wan-
der amid the loftier parts of these demoniac regions. Being
early in the moaning, we had a clear cavern ;—an advantage
not to be expected later in the day, after the more fre-
quent discharge of sundry " blue lights," whose murky
exhalations, of course, naturally tend to obscure—what I,
under favourable auspices, was very far from being able to
discover—this high and solitary hall's inexplicable roof ! The
general effect is much heightened by thundering sounds of
the grand cascade, which, after rushing with terrible impetu-
osity along the side of this cavern, passes on to Peak's Hole;
a cavity of the earth, stated by miners to be without bottom!
One reason for making so bold an assertion is this. All the
stone cut from the tunnel already alluded to, together with
several thousand tons of other rubbish, had been thrown
into that endless chasm without producing any visible effect,
or ascertainable alteration ! The guide said he once de-
scended, by means of ropes, 80 or 90 yards lower than where
we stood, and afterwards sounded 100 more, without observ-
ing the least obstruction to the plummet ! Any person
believing the generally given account of the depth of Elden
Hole will be more prepared to admit the truth of so extraor-
dinary a declaration. The noise of the water bursting over
the higher parts of the rocks, on approaching quite close, is
almost astounding. It may be as well to mention, that strong
rails are placed to prevent strangers falling into this fearful
abyss, which is a very proper precaution. There is certainly
no cave in the Grand Peak Cavern anything near so high as
" The Devil's Hall," in Speedwell Mine ; although the latter,
if. contrasted generally, must fall short of the former as an
object of wondering admiration.—Sketches in Derbyshire.

01)ipping Eittelltytnre.

FRIDAY, JULY 3.—Wind W

ARRIVED—GazeIIe, Robertson, from Mauritius—Eliza Killicic,
Waugh, from St. Domingo—Banffshire, Nicholson, and Talbot,
Storey, from Mobile—Howard, Mills, fm Savannah—Susquehanna,
Mierckin, from Philadelphia; sailed 11th June—Ligonia, Blanchard,
from Baltimore; sailed Ist June—Scotland, Robinson, from New
York ; sailed lith June—Superbe, —, and Apollo, from New-
foundland—Sir Colin Campbell, , from Charente—Harmony,
, from Dordt Flamer, , from Jersey—Sophia, Fergu-
son, from Quebec—Amelia, Crosby, from Savannah—Fairfield,
Lyon, from New York; sailed 13th June.

Wave, Broadfoot, from New Orleans, at this port; sailed 27th
May, in company with the Dale, and Napoleon, for Liverpool. On
4th June, saw a barque on shore on Orange Keys ; had apparently
just gone on. On 29t11 June, in lat. 48, long. 19, spoke the Gov.
Troup, from Liverpool for New York
Stamboul, Simian ; Fanny Palmer, Cutting; Eliza Saunders,
Bulley ; Syra, Mitchell, and Donna Maria, Millard, hence at Con-
stantinople
Thomas and Elizabeth, Fell, hence at Mille
Eclipse, Mullyast, hence at Ostend
Asia, Hannah, hence off Waterford, Ist instant, for Quebec
Osprey, Bartlett, hence to Havana, was spoken 12th May, in lat.
22, long. 38

Wm. Brown, —, hence to New Orleans, was spoken 31st
May, in lat. 21; long. 64
George Glen, hence at St. Lawrence
Victoria, Lennox, hence to New York, was spoken 17th June,
in lat. 41, long. 54
Switzerland, --, from New Orleans at Ilavre
There are three small brigs aground in the Rock Channel, near
the Red Noses. It is expected that they will float the next tide
without damage
Ellen Gillman, Steer, from Gibraltar. at this port; on the 23rd
June spoke the schooner Patriot, of Plymouth
WESTPORT, 29th June.—Part of the wreck of a large timber
laden vessel, with masts and spars, and several logs of timber and
staves, all apparently new, have been washed on shore near Bel-
mullet