of anatase. Those of Craitonite, which are here classed in the same category, have been since ascertained to consist of a predominant quantity of zircon, silica, iron, and manganese; and they ought, therefore, to be referred to the stony substances, and placed immediately after zircon.The series which belongs to anatase, a substance first observed by the author in the Alps of Dauphiny, in 1782, deserves to be particularly noted, on account of the rarity of such specimens. Those of Craitonite occur still more rarely, and generally accompanied by anatase. The discovery of this substance, which is also due to the Count de Bournon, dates from 1788.

Of the martial Scheelin, or Wolfram, we perceive 36 specimens; and of the calcareous, or Tungstein, 11. The varieties of tellurium are distributed into 8 specimens of the native metal, 21 of the lamellar, (Naggiag-ertz of Werner,) 20 of the grey, and 29 of the graphic. Also 6 specimens of cerite, 4 of Allanite, 2 of yttriferous oxyd of tantalium, and 7 of the oxyd of chromium; besides 70 detached pieces, connected with the metals, but placed out of their order, on account of their great size. Many of these particulars, which we have barely recited, might furnish room for much curious discussion: but it is now time that we should bring this article to a close, with all possible dispatch. For the same reason, and also because we have not at present the requisite documents within our reach, we forbear from entering on the consideration of those points concerning which the author and the Abbé Haüy have not been able to arrive at a common understanding. The Count's strictures on M. Tonnellier's report of his treatise on the carbonate of lime appear to us to be founded in justice: but, not having the report itself before us, we state our opinion with much diffidence.

We ought, perhaps, to apologize to our readers for having already detained them so long with numbers and names: but we were desirous of conveying to the British public some idea of the multiplied items of a collection which, we fondly flatter ourselves, will not be lost to this country, nor frittered down and dissipated in fragments. The present Catalogue, which forms its most valuable accompaniment, has strong claims on our favourable notice; since it is evidently the production of a master-hand, and may on various occasions be profitably consulted as a text-book on mineralogy. The composition and press-work certainly call for revision; but this remark is not unmingled with feelings of commiseration and indulgence, on account of those distressing circumstances. which are so unfriendly to correct writing, and which have

reduced

reduced the author to the cruel necessity of renouncing his precious stores and the favourite pursuits of his life.

The plates, which are twenty-one in number, exhibit distinct outlines of the figures of 413 crystals of various minerals.

Intending purchasers will have an opportunity of visiting the collection, by giving the Count one day's previous

notice.

ART. III. Clavis Calendaria; or a compendious Analysis of the Calendar; illustrated with Ecclesiastical, Historical, and Classical Anecdotes. By John Brady. 2 Vols. 8vo. pp. about 370. in each Vol. 11. 5s. Boards. Longman and Co. 1812. SOME years ago, we were accustomed to meet with publications intitled "Companions to the Almanack." These supplements to the Calendar being now probably discontinued, Mr. Brady has undertaken to supply the deficiency on a much more extended and amusing plan; uniting to the usual explanations an account of every saint and every circumstance noticed in the holiday-columns of the Almanack; and ushering in the whole by a brief introduction, in which we are presented with a sort of history of the several inventions for measuring time, (viz. the dial, the clepsydra, the hour-glass, the clock, and the watch,) of the alterations which the Calendar (or Kalendar) has undergone, of the structure of almanacks, of the divisions of time into years, months, days, &c., and of the origin of the names of the twelve months of the year and the seven days of the week.

We are informed in the preface that this work has been the result of long and arduous application;' and the author hopes, from the scrupulous and vigilant attention which he has bestowed to attain correctness,' that he has succeeded. We wish that we could compliment him on this head but we are under the necessity of remarking that, notwithstanding Mr. B.'s desire of being accurate, he has fallen into some errors; and that, in spite of his long and vigilant study of his subject, he has not furnished a complete Clavis Calendaria. On the Fasts, Festivals, &c. marked in the holiday-column of the Almanack, he has indeed afforded us something that is more amusing than the pages of good Mr. Nelson: but, as an astronomer, chronologist, and antiquary, Mr. B. is not extensively informed. Many of our ecclesiastical festivals and regulations being founded on the institutions and mode of dividing time which prevailed among the antient Hebrews, more notice ought to have been taken of the Jewish Calendar; and if Mr. B. had

even adverted to the hints given in the Old Testament respecting the period at which the year antiently began, he would not have asserted (p. 31.) that the autumnal equinox is a period for the commencement of the year universally acknowleged to be inconsistent with reason, and the long established phenomena of nature.' Had he considered the Jewish mode of reckoning time, he would have found that their civil year began in the month Tizri, with the equinoxial new moon, in autumn; and the Hebrew Scriptures justify the opinion that this commencement of the year is more antient than that which is adopted in the sacred or ecclesiastical year, which began at the vernal equinox, in the month Nisan. It is stated, Exod. xxiii. 16., that "the feast of in-gathering, or the harvestfeast, fell at the end of the year;" which is a convincing proof that the year in the time of Moses opened at this season.

The knowlege of astronomy and of the sciences connected with it was derived to us from the Arabians; and this source is still indicated by the words Algebra and Almanack, which are compounded from the Arabic language. We think, therefore, that Mr. B. should not doubt whether the latter word was derived from Arabic or the Saxon; and that he should not incline \to the account of Verstegan, who deduces it from the Saxon name given to their carved sticks, which they used as calendars of the changes of the moon, and which they called al-mon-aght. The particle al, prefixed to geber and manach, surely ascertains the Arabic origin of the two words just mentioned.

Mr. B. regards the word September as a compound of septem, seven, and imber, a shower of rain, that month being considered as the commencement of the rainy season: but, as November and December have a similar termination, he might have questioned the accuracy of this remark. At p. 50. we read that Sir Isaac Newton has determined the solar year to consist of 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, and 15 seconds; and it is agreeable to this calculation that we now regulate our measure of time.' Mr. Brady has not referred us to the place where he found this calculation: but it certainly is not fol lowed in the modern measure of the length of the year, which is now invariably made to consist of 365 d. 5 h. 48 m. 57 s.

Some persons will probably smile at Mr. B. when he gravely undertakes to fix the length of the Honey-moon to a period of 30 days.' He is, however, right in his statement of the origin of the phrase, which is assignable to our Saxon ancestors; who were accustomed to drink a favourite beverage, composed of honey, (or rather made from honey, probably mead,) for thirty days after every wedding. The account of the Harvest-moon, which follows, is sadly defective; the author merely observing REV. JAN. 1814

D

'that

that it denotes the month in which the harvest is usually collected but he makes no remark on the properties of this moon, which, owing to the obliquity of her orbit at that period to the horizon, varies little in the time of her rising for several nights. together immediately after the full. The harvest-moon is

generally the full moon in August; and the following full moon, in September, having the same properties in a less degree, is termed the Hunter's Moon.

The correction of the calendar by Pope Gregory XIII., called the New Style, is well explained; and while Mr. B. applauds the good sense of the general adoption of it in Europe, he has not forgotten to remark that the Russians, regardless of propriety, still adhere to the Julian style, and therefore are now 12 days before us in their date of time.' As we are becoming intimate with the Russians, we may be the means of leading them to correct this error. To the Roman names of the months, are subjoined the corresponding Saxon appellations, which are now obsolete, though we still retain in constant use the names given by our rude ancestors to the seven days of the week. After having told the reader that the Saxons called January Wolf-monat, or Wolf-month, because of the peculiar danger which in this season the people incurred of being devoured by wolves, who were then most ravenous; and that, subsequently, when Christianity began to raise its head, this month was called After-yula, that is, After-Christmas; the author adds:

For what reason we abandoned the Saxon title of this, and of the other months, but retained the Saxon names of the days, it is difficult to conjecture; but as the former were each expressive of the period of the year in which they were respectively placed, and the latter merely the names of the idols worshipped on those particular days, there does not appear to have been much judgment exerted in the rejection of the one, and the retention of the other.'

Under the head of Monday, or Moon-day, which was sacred to the moon, Mr. B. remarks that

The worship that has been paid to the moon as a deity originated from the causes assigned to that of the sun; but in Europe all direct adoration of those orbs has long since been exploded, although traces of its having been once prevalent yet remain. In some parts of England it is customary to bless the new moon, while in Scotland they not only do so, but usually drop a courtsey at the same time; and formerly the influence of the moon was considered so very extraordinary, that few persons would kill their hogs but when the planet was on the increase; nor would any one scarcely dare to cut the corns on his feet, or to pare his nails, at any other period.'

If it be worth while to notice these fragments of superstition, for the sake of the rising generation, they should be treated with appropriate ridicule.

The

The first chapter of that part of the work which is devoted to the elucidation of the holidays marked in the Calendar is intitled Circumcision. (1st January). Here Mr. B. assumes the character of the theologian; informing us that this festival was instituted by the Church, in grateful remembrance of our Lord having on the eighth day of his nativity, first shed his sacred blood for the redemption of our fallen nature: but he does not refer us to the passage of the New Testament which attributes any part of our redemption to the blood of Christ shed at his circumcision. From religious doctrine, the writer

passes to modern customs, and observes:

The antient, friendly, and benevolent custom of wishing a happg new year, is so generally exploded, that a person must be blessed with the favors of fortune, or well known as a man of talent, to venture his consequence by now offering so familiar an address: few, therefore, above the lowest classes of society, attempt to intrude any good wishes for the happiness or success of his neighbour; lest, if he escape the imputation of unlicensed freedom, he be deemed vulgar, and ignorant of what is called fashionable life. Even the modern expression of the compliments of the season, which, for many years, was substituted for the former more expressive and better understood mode of salutation, has given way before universal refinement, real or affected; and is now sanctioned only in family circles, among intimate friends, or from a person who is either an acknowledged superior, or at least upon equality with the one whom he addresses. In like manner, new-year's-gifts have fallen into such disuse, that they are scarcely known except in some trifling instances, where such marks, of affection are offered to children just emerging from the nursery. That nothing contributes more to virtue than cheerful and friendly intercourse, has often been pointed out by the best moral writers: surely, therefore, every reflecting mind must lament, that any cause should operate to interrupt the diffusion of any part of the concord and harmony acknowledged to be so requisite for the comfort and happiness of all classes of society."

Something hearty, as we say, and characteristic of the social qualities of our ancestors, is attached to these customs, and we should lament if cold-blooded fashion be allowed to banish expressions and practices which indicate kindness and good will. May Englishmen long continue to enjoy "a merry Christmas," and commence every new year with benevolent hearts towards their neighbours!

As it is mentioned in the title of this work that anecdotes are interwoven with the necessary explanations, we shall take this opportunity of giving a specimen of them under the head of New-year's Gifts. It is possible, that on the pretext of sending such a gift, Judges might be assailed with presents which it would be dishonourable in them to accept; and an instance of this kind is related: