13 JANUARY 1900, Page 16

THE NEW CENTURY.

[To THE EDITOR OP THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—May I withdraw the doubt I expressed of the correct- ness of your conclusion as to the "close of the century "? I had forgotten that the conventional meaning attached to the letters A.D. was fixed by the practice of historians, who identify B.C. 1 with A.U.C. 753, and A.D. 1 with A.U.C. 754. This seems final. It would be rather interesting to know when this identification was first made, and whether any variation of practice occurs in the older writers.—I am, Sir, &c.,