238
NOTES AND QUERIES. tn s. i. M AR . 19,
court, please) and a covered riding-school for the
young people of the house. After luncheon Sir
John took me for a walk through the extensive
and beautiful grounds that surrounded the house,
and our small dog, which did not take kindly to
the French maid or my man, accompanied us on
our stroll. Suddenly there was a series of yaps,
and the sound of the rushing of many wings. The
small dog had left the path, and, entering an
adjoining plantation, had put up a hundred or so
of pheasants, packed there to await the first of
October. The idea of pheasant shooting within
almost cab-limit of Hyde Park Corner seemed
to me almost an impossibility, but showed what
money could ensure."
OUTIS.
RICHARD HENRY ALEXANDER BENNET (11 S. i. 189) was not, as G. F. R. B. states, M.P. for Newport 1807-12 (or at any other date). He was elected for Launceston in May, 1807, and retained his seat till April, 1812. He died at the age of 37, on 11 Oct., 1818. ALFRED B. BEAVEN.
Although I cannot answer either of the points indicated by G. F. R. B., I can quote a few particulars respecting Bennet which may be welcome. They are from a little - known volume, ' Memoirs of Eminent English Statesmen l (1806) :
" This gentleman was bred to the sea, and obtained the rank of post-captain in 1796. He now sits in Parliament for the first time ; and on the 12th of June, 1805, his name appeared in the list of the majority that carried the measure of a criminal prosecution against Lord Melville. Capt. Bennet, soon after the commencement of thepresent war, was appointed to the command of the Tribune frigate of 36 guns."
W. ROBERTS.
MONTHS: THEIR UNEQUAL DIVISION (1 1 S. i. 188). If the year be divided into twelve portions (no doubt originally adopted be- cause each of these is nearly the length of a lunar month, though slightly exceeding it), these could only be made equal by introduc- ing either five intercalary days at the end of each year (which would have to be six each fourth year), or an intercalary month at the end of six years, which could not be always of exactly the same length. Pro- posals of this kind have been made ; the latest emanated from Peru, on which I co'mmented in Nature for 24 February (it included other propositions about the days of the week) ; but it is evident that such drastic changes would cause great confusion and inconvenience.
But if M. DE WARTEGG merely means, Why are not the alternate changes of thirty and thirty-one days for each month more regular, without the recurrence of con-
secutive months of thirty-one days each in
July and August ? the answer is that Julius
Caesar so .arranged it when he reformed the
Roman calendar, on which ours is founded ;
and it was altered by Augustus merely in
order, that his month might have as many
days as that of Julius. This is pointed out
in the chapter on the calendar in the last edi-
tion of my ' Celestial Motions : a Handy
Book of Astronomy.' The alteration was
an unfortunate one; but to change it now
would cause more trouble than it would save.
W. T. LYNN.
The division of the months has been ably and simply, yet scientifically dealt with by Mr. M. B. Cots worth of Accomb, York, in his most interesting work ' The Rational Almanac,' which your correspond- ent will find it worth while to procure. The book gives some sensible suggestions for almanac reform. G. B.-M.
The most simple and sensible suggestion was to divide the year into thirteen months of twenty-eight days each, except the last, which would have twenty-nine days in an ordinary year, and thirty in a leap year. Thus 5 March of this year would be the 8th day of the third month. The days of the week would always fall on the same day of the month during any year, and only change with the new year. L. L. K.
WASHINGTON'S ORDER OF CINCINNATUS (10 S. xii. 328). The French military paper Le Garnet de la Sabretache published an interesting account of this order and its French members in last year's issue, pp. 609-23, including a reproduction of the brevet of the order as granted to Count d'Autichamp. CHARLES NOUGUIER.
La Vallee, Chateau Renard, Loiret.
METRICAL PRAYER AND PASSION EM- BLEMS (11 S. i. 67, 152). The same design is reproduced, with slight differences (from a copy made by the editor, the Rev. Charles Bullock, B.D., in early life), in The Day of Days for the present month. Copies of the engraving will be supplied on application to the publisher, Home Words office, 11, Ludgate Square, E.C. J. T. F.
Durham.
k PRINTERS OF THE STATUTES IN THE SIX- TEENTH CENTURY (11 S. i. 106). For the sake of accuracy I may point out to R. S. B. that the name " Tetsweirt " he twice quotes is a misspelling. It should be Yetsweirt. See Prof. Arber's ' List of London Pub- lishers^ 1890, p. 32. WM. JAGGARD.
