British churches for fome time after that separation conti- Part I. nued to keep their Eafter by this table of eighty-four years. But foon after that feparation, the church of Rome and several others difcovered great deficiencies in this account, and therefore left it for another, which was more perfect not but that also had its defects, though it has been continued ever fince in the Greek church, and fome others; and till very lately in our own3. Victorian The Cycle I mean was drawn up about the year 457, The Cycle by Victorius, or Victorinus, a native of Aquitain, an emi- of 532 nent mathematician: who, obferving that the Cycle of the years, or Sunday letter confifted of twenty-eight years, and confe- Period. quently that the days of the week have a complete revolution, and begin and go on again every twenty-eight years, juft in the fame order that they did twenty-eight years before, and that the Cycle of the Moon returned to have her changes on the fame days of the folar year and month, whereon they happened nineteen years before, but not on the fame days of the week: Victorius, I fay, having obferved this, and endeavouring to compofe a Cycle, which should contain all the changes of the days of the week, and of the moon also, (which was neceffary to find Easter for ever;) he multiplied these two Cycles of nineteen and twenty-eight together, and from thence compofed his period of five hundred and thirty-two years, from him ever after called the Victorian Period. And in this time he fuppofed the new moons would fall out on the fame days both of the month and week, on which they happened before, and in the fame orderly courfe. So that this day (be it what day it will) is the fame day of the year, month, moon, and week, that it was five hundred and thirty-two years ago, or will be five hundred and thirty-two years hence; i. e. if this calculation has no defect in it, as it was then thought to have none, or fo little as would make no confiderable variation. And when the firft full moon after the vernal equinox, or March 21, happens on the fame day both of the month and week, it did any year 8 This alteration of the cycle to find Eafter was the cause that the Britons, who kept to the old account, differed from the Romans in the time of celebrating this feftival. For though both kept it on a Sunday, according to the Rule of the Council of Nice; yet they differed as to the particular Sunday. This upon the coming in of Auguftin the monk, first before; Chap. I. before; Eafter-day must also fall on the fame day on which it happened that year: so that Eafter, according to this computation, muft go through all its variations in five hundred and thirty-two years; forafmuch as the moon and the days of the week have all their variations in that space. This Cycle eftablished by the Church. And after wards adapted to the calendar in the fervice book. The occa Number nical Let §. 3. This calculation was thought to come much nearer to the truth (as indeed it did) than the former table of eighty-four years: for which reafon it was generally followed in a little time. And the fourth council of Orleans, A. D. 541, decreed, that "the feast of Easter should be "celebrated every year according to the table of Victo"rius; and that the day whereon it is to be celebrated "every year fhould be declared by the Bishop in the time of divine fervice on the feaft of Epiphany." However in a little time it was thought more convenient to adapt thefe tables to the calendar, fo that every one, who had a book of the divine offices wherein this calendar was placed, might know the day whereon Eafter fhould be kept, without any farther information. But the whole table being of too great a length to be fion of the inferted into one book of divine offices, it was found more Golden advisable to place the Golden Number, or Cycle of the and Domi- moon, in the first column of the calendar, and the Dominical Letters in another column; in fuch manner that the Golden Number thould point out the new moons in every month: by which means it would be eafy to find out the fourteenth day of the Eafter moon, or the firft full moon after the twenty-firft day of March, and then, by the Dominical Letter following that day, to be affured of the day whereon Eafter must be kept. ters being placed in the calen dar. for ever The table to §. 4. And from these two columns was drawn up a find Eafter Table to find Eafter for ever; that fo at any time, by only knowing the Golden Number and the Dominical Letter, New tables it might be seen at one view (without any trouble or comto find it by.putation) what day Eafter would happen on in any year erroneous. required. But that table being founded on this erroneous fuppofition, viz. that the Golden Numbers, as fixed in the calendar, would for ever fhew the day of the new moon in every month, which they have long fince failed to do, it is laid afide, and others fubftituted in its place, whereby to find the pafchal full moon and Eafter-day till the year 1900; when the Golden Numbers must be shifted (accord 9 Can. I. Concil. tom. v. col. 381. E. ing to the tables prepared for that purpose) to make Part I. them continue to anfwer the ends for which they stand in the tables and calendar. But it does not fall within our prefent design to confider tables which are calculated for fo diftant a time. SECT. III. Of the Golden Number. I PASS on now to the table of moveable feafts for fifty-The Golden two years, where it may be expected I fhould fpeak of Number. three things therein mentioned, viz. the Golden Number, the Epact, and the Dominical Letter; and of these the first that offers itself is the Golden Numbers: of this therefore in the first place. §. 2. And this, as we have already hinted, was invented By whom long before our Saviour's nativity by Meton the Athenian, invented, from whence it was ftyled the Metonic Cycle; till after-and why wards it changed its name, being, either from its great Golden usefulness in afcertaining the moon's age, or elfe from its Number, being written in letters of gold, called the Golden Number; &c. though fometimes, for the first of these reasons, it is called the Cycle of the Moon. and how §. 3. The occafion of this Cycle was this: It having The occabeen obferved that at the end of nineteen years the moon cafion of it, returned to have her changes on the fame days of the brought folar year and month whereon they happened nineteen into the years before; it was thought that by the use of a cycle, calendar. confifting of nineteen numbers, the time of the new moons every year might be found out, without the help of astronomical tables, after this manner: viz. They obferved on what day of each calendar month the new moon fell in each year of the cycle, and to the faid days they fet respectively the number of the faid year. And after this method they went through all the nineteen years of the cycle, as may be feen in the calendar of moft Common Prayer-Books printed before the year 1752. be left out of the ca S. 4. And by this method the new moon could be why now found with accuracy enough at the time of the Nicene ordered to council, forafmuch as the Golden Number did then fhew the day (i. e. the Nuchthemeron) upon which the new lendar. moon fell out. And hereupon is founded the rule of the Nicene council for finding Eafter, as has been already 10 See the four laft tables in the Book of Common-Prayer. fhewed. Chap. I. fhewed. But here it is to be obferved, that the cycle of the moon is less than nineteen Julian years, by one hour, The Pafchal Limits count. Golden The Pafchal I 23456 28 a April 13. to. April 7. twenty-feven minutes, and almost thirty-two feconds: whence it comes to pass, that although the new moons fall again upon the fame days as they did nineteen years before, yet they fall not on the fame hour of the day, or Nuchthemeron, but one hour, twenty-feyen minutes, and almoft thirty-two feconds fooner. And this difference arifing in about three hundred and twelve to a whole years day; it must follow that the new moon, after every three hundred and twelve years, would fall a whole day (or Nuchthemeron) fooner. So that for this reafon the new moons were found to fall about four days and a half fooner now than the Golden Numbers indicated. And though this might have been rectified for. the present, by fhifting the Golden Numbers to the days on which the aftronomical new moons now happen; yet it has been ordered by the late Act for correcting the Calendar, that the column of Golden Numbers, as they were prefixed to the refpective days of all the months in the calendar, fhall be left out in all future editions of the Book of Common-Prayer. And accordingly the Golden Numbers have now no place in the calendar but against the twenty-firft of March and the eighteenth of April*, and fome of the intermediate days where they stand only as the pafchal terms, (for a limited time",) fhewing the days of the full moons, by which Easter is to be governed through all the feveral years of the moon's cycle; as is expreffed in the table annexed.st .9 ΙΟ March 21. II 12 March 24. 13 April 1. 14 15 16 17 18 April 9. March 29. 19 March 26. 2 * The twenty-firft of March and the eighteenth of April are properly the paichal limits, because the full moon by which Eafter. is governed must not fall before the former or after the latter day: 11 Till the year 1899 inclufive. 12 To find the § 5. I fhall add no more on this head, than to fhew Part I. how we may find the Golden Number for any year. And, this is done by adding one 12 to the given year of Chrift, Golden and then dividing the fum by nineteen. If after the divifion Number of nothing remains over, then the Golden Number is nine- any year, teen; but if any number remains over, then the said remainder is the Golden number for that year. For instance, I would know the Golden Number for the year 1758, which by this method I find to be 11; for 1758 and 1, (i. e. 1759) being divided by 19, there will remain 11. And thus much for the cycle of the moon. SECT. IV. Of the Epacts. THE Lunar Year confifts of twelve lunar months, i. e. The Lunar of twelve months, confifting of about twenty-nine days year how computed! and a half each. In which space of time the Moon returns to her conjunction with the Sun; that is, from one new moon to the next new moon are very near twentynine days and a half. But, to avoid fractions, the computifts allow thirty days to one moon, and twenty-nine to another fo that in twelve moons fix are computed to have thirty days each, and the other fix but twenty-nine days each. Thus beginning the year with March, (for that was the ancient cuftom,) they allowed thirty days for the moon in March, and twenty-nine for that in April; and thirty again for May, and twenty-nine for June, &c. according to the old verfes : ( Impar luna pari, par fiet in impare mense; For the firft, third, fifth, feventh, ninth, and eleventh 7 so that March the twenty-fecond is the earliest day, and April the twenty-fifth (which, if the eighteenth should be full moon and a Sunday, will be the Sunday following) the latest day upon which Eafter can fall. And upon this is framed the Table of the moveable feafts according to the feveral days that Eafter can poffibly fall upon. 12 The reason of adding one is, because the æra of Chrift began in the second year of the cycle. and |