IV. MAJOR GENERALS IN COMMISSION AT THE CLOSE OF THE WAR.

WENTWORTH-GOULD-ROGERS-PERKINS-APTHORPE.

Page 263 of

the July number of the Register gives the marriage of Elizabeth'. Wentworth, granddaughter of Lt. Gov. John, to John Gould, Jr. The Portsmouth (N. H.) Gazette of 18th Oct., 1765, says:

"Last Tuesday evening was married at his Excellency the Governor's [Benning Wentworth] by the Rev. Mr. Cane, of Boston, Nathaniel Rogers, Esq., of Boston, to Mrs. Elizabeth Gould, of the same place, a lady very amiable and highly interesting."

The Portsmouth (N. H.) Gazette of 27th April, 1774, says:

"Last evening was married, at his Excellency Gov. John Wentworth's, by the Rev. Dr. Byles, Doctor William Lee Perkins, of Boston, to Mrs. Rogers, second daughter to Samuel Wentworth, Esq., late of the same place."

She was niece of Gov. Benning, and cousin of Gov. John Wentworth, who married her sister and his own cousin Frances' Wentworth. She was living in Boston in 1798, and is believed to have died there. By Mr. Gould, she had John, who was a Surgeon in the British army, and married a daughter of Michael Franklin, Lt. Gov. of Nova Scotia. Also Samuel Gould, a merchant of Boston. Also Elizabeth, who married Major Monk, of the British army, and died in Nova Scotia. She had no children by Mr. Rogers, who was lost at

sea.

By Dr. Perkins, she had Anna, who married her cousin George Apthorpe, the son of her mother's sister Sarah' Wentworth, who married James Apthorpe, of Braintree, Mass. This George Apthorpe was said, at one time, to have been a merchant in Boston, and to have been living near there within a few years; but the writer, after the most diligent inquiry, can learn nothing of him or his descendants.

W.

A VALUABLE ANTIQUARIAN ALMANAC.

[Communicated by ISAAC J. GREENWOOD, of New York.]

[As the student in history frequently has, from the day of the month to determine on what day of the week, or vice versa, an event occurs, he will find that, by the time table or calendar on the opposite page (which Mr. Greenwood furnishes us with the following article), it can be done with the greatest ease and facility. The almanac, it will be seen, ranges over a space of fifteen centuries, and a moment's attention to the explanation in the note below* will enable any one, by the use of the table, to fix the day of the week or month of any occurrence, whether past or future, embraced within the period given.-ED.]

THE present method of computing time from the æra of Christ was introduced at Rome, by Dionysius, a monk, in A.D. 527. This date corresponds with the Roman year 1280, A. U. C., and with the Julian period 5240. The system was not adopted in France till 750; in Spain, 1340; and in Portugal, 1410.

By the Romans the year was reckoned as consisting of 365 days, but, as the actual Solar year was deemed to be 365 days and 6 hours, Julius Cæsar ordered that every fourth year should have an intercalary day. A day was accordingly added to the month of February, or on the Sixth of the Calends of March, and thus making two sixths, or bis sixtus, gave origin to the term Bissextile Year, corresponding to our present Leap-Year.

It was subsequently ascertained that the true solar year consisted of 365 days, 5 hours, 48′, 48′′, and that the over plus of 12′, 12′′ had occasioned a grievous error in the calendar. In 1583, therefore, Pope Gregory XIII. ordained that ten days should be added to the tally of all past time since the birth of Christ, to make up the fractional deficiencies; thus the 11th of March became the 21st, and all succeeding years were commenced on the First of January. Gregory also ordered that every hundredth year, which, according to the Julian form, was to be bissextile, should be a common year, and consist of 365 days; but because that was too much, every four-hundredth year, as 1600, 2000, 2400, &c., was to remain bissextile.

Mathias Prideaux, writing some sixty years later, says the Pope "could not effect with Cæsar (Charles V.) and divers other Princes, his New Style should be followed, which is done notwithstanding amongst some States for politick respects." In fact the method was

year.

EXPLANATION.-Look at the top for the century; then to the right or left for the odd year; and in a line with the latter, directly under the century, is the Dominical Letter for the Then in the calendar, in the lower part of the table, find the day of the month, and in a line with it, under the given Dominical Letter, you have the day of the week; or vice versa. N. B. Every Leap-Year has two Dominical Letters: thus, 1860 has A and G, 1864 C and B, 1868 E and D, 1872 G and F, &c. &c.: but in the table given merely the last letter is designated, as the first serves only till the close of February. The year 1752, however, had three Dominical Letters; E from Wednesday, January 1. to Saturday, February 29; D from Sunday, March 1, to Wednesday, September 2; and A from Thursday, September 14 (when New Style was adopted), to the close of the year. 4*

VOL. XX.

I. J. G.

adopted generally by all Catholic countries without delay, but the Protestants of Germany did not reform their mode of reckoning till 1700.

The English people, continuing the Old Style, as it was called, for a much longer period, commenced the year at the vernal equinox instead of on the First of January. But to make dates agree, as far as possible, with those of other nations, the custom of double dating came in vogue, and during the 17th and 18th centuries (till 1752) we frequently see two years written down in English dates between January 1st and Lady Day,* or March 25th; thus we have Feb. 25, 172, the bottom date being that from January 1, and the upper that from the previous Lady-Day.

Finally, in conformity to an Act of Parliament passed in 1751, the succeeding year, 1752, was begun on January first, and by the same Act, the Gregorian calendar being adopted, it was ordered that eleven days should be struck out of the following month of September. By this order Thursday, which would have been Sept. 3, 1752, O. S., became Thursday, Sept. 14, 1752, N. S.‡

Browne.

Mosse.

Morfrey.

Cann.
Cooper.

Clarke.

.Jarvis.

BOSTON RECORDS.

BOSTON MARRIAGES.

[Continued from Vol. xix., page 170.]

Samuell Browne was marryed to Mary Mattocke, the
Daughter of James Mattocke, of Boston, ye 9th July
1661. By Jo: Endecott, Gov'.

Christopher Mosse was marryed to Prudence Woodward,
ye Daughter of Nathaniell Woodward, of Boston.
Bryan Morfrey, an Irishman, was marryed to Margaret
Mayhoone, widdow, the 20th July 1661. By John
Endecott, Gov.

John Cann was marryed to Ester Read, the Daughter of
William Read, of Boston, ye 30th July 1661.
Josiah Cooper was marryed to Wayte a While Make-
peace, of Boston, the 13th Sept. 1661. By Jo: En-
decott, Gov.

William Clarke, now Resident in Boston, was marryed
to Martha Farr, ye Daughter of George Farr, of Lynne,
the 18th Sept. 1661. By Mr. Ri: Russell.

John Jarvis was marryed to Rebecca Parkman, the

The day of the Virgin's Annunciation.

21,

+ Double dating was not confined to the year, but was sometimes extended to the day April 23, *thus, 1564, Dec 1620, &c. Especially was this the case in despatches from Мну 3, ambassadors, when a different style was used in the country which they represented from that used by the nation to which they were accredited. Specimens of this double dating will be found in the foot notes to Chap. iv. of Macaulay's History of England.-Ed.

For other remarks on Old and New Style, see Register, iv. 350, 367; v. 368; xiii. 189; and xvi. 347.-ED.]