Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 5.djvu/92

 84

NOTES AND QUERIES.

. v. FEB. 3, 1900.

parcels put over the wall at the back of t]

house, and these were placed in coffins, directec

to a mutual friend, who was in the secre

who forwarded them to their various destin

tions. This went on for some time, until th

neighbours were at a loss to make out th

continued exit of these coffins always a

a particular hour each week. The stratagem

was discovered, Cleave was imprisoned, anc

the paper died a natural death. At on

time for a short period several paper

published a stamped and an unstamped ed

tion, the latter to be forwarded in parcel

the former free by post. This occasioned i

great amount of trouble to newsvendors, anc

frequent blunders were made. The view the

taken was that it would be better to kee

the penny stamp on all ; but further though

convinced me that freedom from the tax

altogether was the right step. I am glad t

see that in Mr. Collet's book recognition i

paid to the valuable service rendered by my

old friend John Francis in the fight for the

freedom of our Press. I knewghirn from hi

boyhood when he was an apprentice at Marl

borough's newspaper office in Ave MarialLane

and remember his becoming the publisher o

the Atkenceum, and was present at his funeral

when I rode in the same carriage as Mr. Collet

James Grant, in his 'Newspaper Press, vol. iii. p. 306, refers to Cleave, and frequem mention is made by him of John Francis anc the part he took in the agitation against the Advertisement and Paper Duties.

I have maintained, and always shall main tain, that more credit is due to Francis than has ever been given for his exertion and toil in bringing about the abolition of the taxes on the Press. PETER TERRY.

Hornsey Rise.

THE NEW CENTURY.

When the sixtieth minute is ended

The clock at last strikes one ; When the hundredth year is expended

The century's course is run.

WALTER W. SKEAT.

THE BEGINNINGS AND THE ENDS OF CEN- TURIES. It will be noticed that in my note (ante, p. 41) on 'The Beginning of the Twen- tieth Century,' col. 2, 1. 21 from bottom, I inadvertently wrote A.D. 1 instead of B.C. 1. I profit by the opportunity of correcting this to offer a few remarks on the dates of the beginnings and ends of earlier centuries. As there has been so much extraordinary mis- understanding about] the date of the end.of the present century after the Christian era, it may be well to define also those of the beginnings and ends of tho centuries before

Christ. Now the date of the Christian era as we actually use it (a use which cannot now be displaced, though it is not the actual date of the birth of Christ) is 31 December, B.C. 1, or a week after the traditional Christ- mas Day. It follows that the year B.C. 1 (the year immediately preceding A.D. 1) is the first year before the Christian era, and B.C. 100 the hundredth, so that the first century before Christ began on 1 January, B.C. 100, and terminated on 31 December, B.C. 1, just as the first century after the Christian era began on 1 January, A.D. 1, and terminated on 31 December, A.D. 100. In like manner the second, third, fourth, &c., centuries before the Christian era began on 1 January, B.C. 200, 300, 400, &c., and termi- nated on 31 December, B.C. 101, 201, 301, &c., and the second, third, fourth, &c., centuries after the Christian era began on 1 January, A.D. 101, 201, 301, &c., and terminated on 31 December, A.D. 200, 300, 400, etc., till we come to the nineteenth, which began on 1 January, 1801, and will terminate on 31 De- cember, 1900, so that the twentieth will begin on 1 January, 1901. W. T. LYNN.

P.S. In my former note (ante, p. 41, col. 2) t would make the meaning clearer to insert after the words " years more " (1 5 of second paragraph) "from the date of the Incarna- tion."

[We can insert no more on this subject.]

THE ROYAL DUBLIN FUSILIERS. An article n the English Illustrated Magazine (Christmas number) in praise of the Royal Dublins is to ome extent misleading. It quotes from Macaulay the well-known passage : "At this noment the valour and genius of an obscure English youth [meaning Clive] turned the loyal Dublin Fusiliers were the chief iristru- nent by which Clive turned it. This passage eads one to suppose that Clive had with him n Irish regiment known as the Royal Dublin ^usiliers. But this was not the case. Further >n, speaking of the gallant act of self-sacrifice y which Clive's life was saved at Arcot, it ays : " Lieut. Trewith, of the 102nd, eliberately leaped forward and received in lis own heart," &c. This passage leads one o suppose that Clive had with him at Arcot
 * ide of fortune "; and then it adds that the

king's regiment known as the 102nd. But lis was not .the case. The European soldiers lat Clive had with him belonged to the d Madras European Regiment, whose dis- nguished history was written by one of its fficers, Brigadier-General Neil, who was in ommand^of the 1st Battalion the celebrated .adras Fusiliers when the regiment was