departed. This is called the folar year; and confifts, according to our account, of 365 days, five hours, and forty-nine minutes. This is properly the tropical or natural year. But that space of time in which the fun having departed from any fixed ftar, returns to the fame again, is called the fidereal year, and contains 365 days, fix hours, and ten minutes.

A lunar year is that space of time, in which the moon perforins twelve complete revolutions round the earth, called Lunations. This year contains 354 days, eight hours, forty-eight minutes, and thirty-eight feconds.

Both the folar and lunar years above described, are termed aftronomical, as depending on the principles and obfervations of Astronomy.

A civil year is the legal year, or that which each nation or government has appointed for common ufe. This is made to consist of a certain number · of whole days, without any odd hours or minutes, to render the computation of time inore eafy. It is diftinguished into common and biffextile. The common year confifts of 365 days; and the biffextile, or leap-year, which is every fourth, of 366.

The addition of a day to every fourth year is to make the civil year keep pace with the natural one; for the fix hours, or thereabouts, by which the

latter exceeds the former, in four years make a whole day; and therefore every leap-year the month of February has 29 days, which in the common year has but 28.

This

The intercalary, or additional day to every fourth year, was first appointed by Julius Cæfar, who ordered it to be inferted after the 24th of February, which was the fixth of the calends of March, according to the Roman way of reckoning. year, therefore, they reckoned the 24th of February twice over, having, as they expreffed it, bis fexto calendas Martias; and hence the year had the name of biffextile. But amongst us, this intercalation is not made by telling the 24th of February twice, but by adding a day to the end of that month.

It is called leap-year, because in the common years any fixed day of the month changes fucceffively the day of the week; but in the bissextile it skips or leaps over one day. For inftance, fuppofe the ift of May in a common year falls on Tuesday, if the next be a common year it will be on a Wednesday; but if it be a leap-year, the adding of a day will cause it to skip over Wednesday, and fall on Thursday.

In order to know whether any particular year be leap-year or not, divide it by four, and the remainder, if there be any, fhews how many years

have elapfed fince leap-year; and, if there be none, then it is leap-year. Or you may omit the hundreds and thoufands, and divide only the units and tens by four, and the refult will be the fame. For example; divide 1792 by 4, the remainder is o or divide only 92 by 4, the remainder is likewife o; confequently 1792 is leap-year. Divide 1793 by 4, the remainder is 1'; or divide only 93 by 4, the remainder is likewife 1; confequently 1793 is the firft year after leap-year.

The lunar year, as inftituted by Romulus, the founder of Rome, confifted but of ten months; but as this was fhort of the fun's

's period by two months, thefe were afterwards added by his fucceffor, Numa Pompilius, and were called January and February. By thefe means the Roman year confifted of twelve months. But the months of this year being only lunar months, of 29 days each, this civil lunar ar days. The confifted but of 354

year

fun, however, in revolving once through the ecliptic, was found, in procefs of time, to take, up 365 days, or eleven days more than the lunar year. Thefe were added to it by Julius Cæfar, and on that account it was called the Julian year.

1.0

The Gregorian year is a correction of the Julian. made by Pope Gregory XIII. and that with very good reafon; for the Julian year of 365 days and

fix hours exceeding the true folar year by eleven minutes, this excefs in 131 years amounts to a whole day. The council of Nice, in the year of Chrift 325, appointed the celebration of Easter to be always on the first Sunday after the full moon that came next after the vernal equinox, which was then on the 21st of March. Pope Gregory, however, in the year of our Lord 1582, obferved that the above-mentioned fault of the Julian year had thrown the equinoxes ten days more backward, than they were at the time of the said council, fo that the vernal equinox was then on the 11th of March. This occafioned great irregularity with respect to the time of celebrating Eafter, and confequently all other Moveable Feafts. The Pope, therefore, to correct this error, ordered ten days to be fuppreffed in the month of October 1582, that fo the equinox might be reduced to the 21ft of March, on which day it fell at the time of the Nicene council. And that this variation might not happen again, it was further ordained, that every hundredth year, which in the Julian account was a leap-year, should in this be only a common year, and consist but of 365 days; but as that was too much, every four hundredth year was to remain a leap-year or biffextile.

This reformation of the calendar is called the Gregorian account, or New Stile; and according to this ftile was the calendar rectified in England in 1752, by throwing out eleven days in the month of September, as from the council of Nice to that year, 1427 years had elapsed; and, befides, the beginning of the civil year was fixed to the first day of January.

This emendation adjufts the year and seasons pretty near the truth, and has been received not only in all popish countries, but in Holland, Denmark, Sweden, England, and the Proteftant ftates: of Germany..

CHAP. LIV.

ΤΗ

FORMS OF CIVIL YEARS.

HERE have been, and still are, various forms of civil years, in different nations, four of

which I fhall take fome notice of.

1. The ancient Roman year of Romulus confiftedof ten months, namely, Martius of 31 days, Aprilis of 30, Maius of 31, Junius of 30, Quintilis of 31,