The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1878-05-01


4 e,,-
ant eras. The Romans dated from the year
viisc:: their city founded on the banks of
the Tiber by Romums and Remus A com
mon mode which still prevails in treaties and
legislative enactments in some lands is to
date from the accession of the king to the
throne. Our modem law books frequently
sEsrefer to bills passed BY the English Parlia-
/ ment il the year of the sovereign In which It
became law. 1t is only Of late that the Gus
4 tom Of using month and day as part of the
date has been universal. In ancieht writings,
even where the year II expressed IN figures,
i nothing Is more common than to Indicate the
Gay BY reference tp some church festival or
/ portion Of service. Thus an English letter Of
the latter part Of tho 18th century is dated
=" Written at Pastoll In haste the Wednesday
next after Desss qsts dsgdntibua ri. Q. We'd
nesday after the third Sunday after Easter,
on which day tho xnKqice beeins with the
words quoted. AgaifNyne historians of the
day, 1910, spcak of tho battle Of Weisenburg
as being fought "upon the Sunday in which
the church sings Reddlte qude SAINT Caesagis
Cdosari"-i. G. the SD Sunday after Pente-
cost, Nov. s, 1910. Saints days, too, ere fire.
quently referred to. An English Parliament
which met at Westminster Oct G, 1900. is
described as meeting g on Monday the feast of
to Faith the Virgin" A Scottish Parliament
at Scone, Dec. 8, 1918, met on The Sat-
urday next after the feast of ST. Andrew the
Apostle" Papers Were sometimes dated
with reference to some event. Thus one leaf
of the Scottish statute book contains two acts
of Parliament with no record of date except
that one was passed !" at Aberdeen in Lent
next after the coming in Scotland of Vivian.
the Leegate of the Apostolic See,', the other
at Stirling "on the Monday next before the
feast of St. Margaret the Maiden, next after
the first coronation of Philip. king of the
French" An examination of the records of
that age show that they were passed in 1t77
and 1880 respectively.
The origin of the names which the DAYS of
the week and the months bear is interesting.
For the first we are said to be indebted to the
ancient Egyptians. They in common with
tho Hindoos Assyrans and Persians, divided
the lunar month into four weeks ofseven days
each, from the earliest times known to his
tory. A notion prevailed that seven planets
had influence in the affairs of men-each for
an hour at time, in the order of their dist
ance from the earth. Saturn, JUPITER Mars,
the Sun, Venus, Mercury tho Moon. Saturn
was supposed to rule the first hour of the
day, called Saturday--then counting one
hour for each of these celestial magnates, tho
sun ruled the first hour Of the second day,
and the moon the first of the third, called
Sunday and Monday respectively, and so on
with the other days of the week, each planet
naming a gay From Egypt the week was
tfansplanted to Greece where before the
month had been composed of three decades
OF ten days. 1t arrived in Romo about the
time Of and dsplacing the Roman week
of eight days was officially recognized by the
Emperor Constantine. When the barbar-
eous hosts of the North overran Rome, the
names OF live days OF the week assumed a
German form. Mars gave way to Tin, who
was the German substitute for the Greek god
of war, and gave us Tuesday. Mercury sur
rendered to Wodon, Jupiter to Thor, and We
nus to Freya, the wife of 0dian. Hence
Wednesday or Wodon's day, Thursday or
Thor's day, and Friday or Freyas day. BY
some these names are repudiated. All are IA
miliar with the first day. second day &C., of
our good Quaker brothers who in this respect
follow the example Of the Jews and early
Christians who number the days from the
preceding (Jewish) Sabbath or Saturday. The
MoL,r,,,,, olous - ., ~.
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES anu several European ma