Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 4.djvu/211

. iv. AUG. 26.1905.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 173 in the Library of the British Museum. Some of his hymns will be found in a sacred anthology called 'The Child's Year,' which is, I believe, out of print. W. F. PRIDEAUX. RATES IN AID (10th S. iii. 469 ; iv. 53).— I am well aware of the section of 43 Eliz. c. ii., and also of the Cholesbury case, which occurred shortly before 1834, to which your correspondents refer; and also know the cases cited in the law text-books and law reports ; but should be very glad of instances of rates in aid in the seventeenth and eigh- teenth centuries, and also of information as to what were the circumstances under which aid was granted, i.e., what evidence prac- tically sufficed to satisfy the justices that inhabitants were "not able" to keep their own poor. EQUITAS. MOON AND HAIR-CUTTING (10th S. iv. 29, 116).—The following folk-lore items, collected among German-Canadians, may be of interest to the querist:— Hair when inclined to split at the ends should be cut at full moon : the new growth is expected to be longer and softer. To make the hair curly cut it when the moon is in Leo. W. G. WINTEMBERG. Toronto, Can. THE BIRTHDAY OF GEORGE III.: OLD v. NKW STYLE (10th S. iv. 26).—The letter from Sir D. Hunter-Blair was in The Times of 13 June. The following letter of mine appeared in The Times of 15 June :— SIR,—In reference to Sir D. Hunter-Blair's letter ID The Times of to-day, the following may be of interest. In W. Toone's 'Chronological Historian,' Lon- don, 1826, are these items of news:— " 1738. May 24. This morning, between seven and eight, the Princess of Wales was delivered of a prince at Norfolk House, in St. James's Square, who was privately baptized the same day by the name of George." " May 26. The Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Sheriffs of London waited on his Majesty at Ken- sington with their congratulations on the birth of the prince his grandson." "June 21. The young prince having been baptized privatelv the day he was born, on account of his ill state of health, was again baptized, with great solemnity, bv Dr. Seeker, Bishop of Oxford, and rector of St. James's, the 21st instant, in the evening; the King his grandfather, the King of Sweden, and the Queen of Prussia, sponsors. The names given the prince were George William Frederic. "The Duke of Queensbury, Lord Baltimore, and Lady Irwin represented the sponsors." "June 27. The Lord Mayor and Aldermen con- gratulated the Prince of Wales on the birth of the princ* his son." "1752. Sept. 3. The Gregorian or new stile took place in all his Majesty's dominions this* day, from hence called the 14th day of September." " 1761. June 4. Being the anniversary of his Majesty's birth, when he entered the 24th year of his age, it was celebrated with the utmost demon- strations of joy." " 1765. June 4. His Majesty's birthday was kept with uncommon splendour at a very numerous and brilliant Court, every person appeared in dresses entirely of British manufacture.' " 1820. Jan. 29. Died, at Windsor, his Majesty George 111 He was born on the 4th of June, 1738." George II. succeeded to the Crown June 11, 1727. In 'The Jubilee Date-Book: The Regnal Years of the Kings and Queens of England,' by Walford D. Selby, of H.M. Public Record Office, London, 1887, p. 34, foot-note, is the following :— "The London Gazette (No. 9,278) contains the following:—'Kensington, June 23 [1753].—Yester- day being the anniversary of the King's succession to the Crown, there was a very numerous and splendid appearance at Court of the nobility, foreign Ministers, and other persons of distinction, to compliment his Majesty on that happy occa- sion," " &c. It appears from the above that June 11 (old style), the date of the succession of George II., became officially, in the year following the adoption of the new style, June 22, by the necessary omission of the 11 days. Another foot-note on the same page says:— "By the adoption of the new style and the omis- sion of the 'Eleven days' (3 September, 1752— 13 September, 1752) the 26th year of the reign of George II. ended on the 21st of June instead of the 10th." It appears that June 4 is actually and officially the anniversary of the birth of George III., although May 24 would have been the date if, like the Greeks and the Russians, we had retained the Julian calendar. The difference between the old style and the new is now 12 days. I am, Sir, your obedient servant, ROBERT PIERPOINT. 8, Bickenhall Mansions, W., June 13. In The Times of 17 June appeared a second letter from Sir D. Hunter-Blair, asking why the date of the king's birthday should have been advanced eleven days when the calendar was altered, whereas other noteworthy dates, such as that of the battle of Culloden, had not been " similarly tampered with." On the same date there was a letter from Dr. R. VV. M. Pope, correcting a mistake which I had made in saying that "the dif- ference between the old style and the new is now twelve days." Dr. Pope was right in saying that the difference is now (in the twentieth century) thirteen days, but he was in error when he went on to say that " one day has to be added for each new century." This would be the case but for the fact that a centurial year which is a multiple of 400 is a leap year ; all the other centurial years are common or non-leap years. PopeGregory XIII.