No travelling at all-no locomotion- No news from any foreign coast- No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease- No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees, DECEMBER. By our ancestors, December had his due appellation given him in the name of Winter-monat, to wit, Winter-moneth; but after the Saxons received Christianity, they then, of devotion to the birth-time of Christ, termed it by the name of heligh-monat, that is to say, holy-monath.* They also called it mid-wintermonath, and guilerra, which means the former or first guil. The feast of Thor, which was celebrated at the winter solstice, was guil, from iol or ol, which signified ale, and is now corrupted into yule. This festival appears to have been continued throughout part of January.+ The term December seems to have been given to this month at the period of the alteration of the calendar by the Romans, and is derived from the decemviri. FRENCH REVOLUTIONARY CALENDAR. In September, 1793, the French nation resolved that the Republic should form a new era, and that a calendar should be adopted on what are termed philosophical principles; that the common era should be abolished in all civil affairs; and that the new era should date from the foundation of the Republic, 22nd September, 1792. The months and festivals were as follow AUTUMN. Dec. 20. Mar. 20. Vindémaire (Vintage Month)...Sept. 22, to Oct. 21. WINTER. Pluviose SPRING. Ventose Messidor SUMMER. April 19. To complete the 365 days of the common Year, five Jours Complémentaires, which were considered festivals, were added. Primidi, dedicated to Virtue, September 17. The late George Ellis ridiculed this new-fangled method of registering time by the following ludicrous, but happy translation : The division of time has been very ably and satisfactorily accounted for by several able writers, but they either totally neglect the derivation of their terms, or treat them in a slovenly manner. The days of the week have been particularly neglected; for although some obscurity may envelope the origin of their cognomens, yet surely some light may be thrown on the matter. Sunday, the first day of the week, is said to derive its name from the Saxons, who consecrated it to the Sun in heathen times. It was not set apart as a day of cessation from labour before the reign of Constantine. By a decree of that Emperor (A.D. 321), public business and military exercises were suspended. The Council of Laodicea (A.D. 360) forbade labour in general terms, and the laws of Theodosius (A.D. 420) sanctioned this interdiction by civil penalties. Monday, the second day of the week, is so called, and means literally the day of the moon. Tuesday, the third day of the week, was named after Tuisco, the Saxon god of war, whence the astronomical symbol is the same as for the planet Mars. Wednesday, the fourth day of the week, is named after Woden, a Saxon Deity, whose functions corresponded to those of Mercury in the Greek and Roman mythology; hence it was Wodensday, now corrupted into Wednesday. Thursday, the fifth day of the week, is derived from another Saxon god, Thor; whom they supposed to preside over the elements, thunder, lightning, &c., and who corresponded to the Jupiter of the ancients, to whom this day was also consecrated, and from Thorsday came our denomination of Thursday. Friday, the sixth day of the week, derives its name from Frya, or Friga, a Saxon goddess; this is termed the "unlucky day." Saturday, the seventh day of the week, and the Jewish Sabbath, derives its name from the god Saturn, to whom it was dedicated by the Romans. QUARTER DAY. This term explains itself; but the origin or data from whence it was made the rent-day, or day for paying and collecting rents, may not be so generally known. It was not till the fifteenth century, in the reign of Henry VII., that rents were paid or collected quarterly prior to that period, they were paid by the week, month, or year. His Highness, who was very fond of money, and who perhaps left more ready money behind him than any British monarch either before or since, stipulated with his own immediate tenants that they should pay their rents quarterly; this system, however, did not become the law of the land until the Revolution in 1688; from which period, of course, it became usual throughout the land. NEW-YEAR'S DAY. The festival of the Circumcision of our Lord is held on this day in the Roman Catholic Church, and also in the Church of England. On the 1st January, 1801, the Union between England and Ireland was incorporated. The festivities of New-Year's Day may be said to commence the first moment of its existence, for many an English family, having seen the old year out, do not fail to welcome the new one in by drinking a glass or two of wine or punch in its honour, wishing each other a happy new year. Midnight services on the last night of the old year are now held in a very large number of churches and chapels of all denominations, |