THE ROMANCE OF THE CALENDAR By P. W; Wilson
Though experienced readers tend to dismiss books with such a title as likely to be romantic rather than useful, Mr. Wilson's volume (Allen and Unwin, los. '6d.) presents in a readable shape much information about the evolution of the calendar. Mr. Wilson diverges into romance a little too readily, especially in the earlier pages, but his description of the Roman calendar, as reformed by Julius Caesar and revised by Pope Gregory XIII, is clear and goad. If he does not explain mediaeval reckonings of time with such exactitude as R. L. Poole has t'o to for the indiction, the Christian era and the beginning of the year accord- ing to various usages, Mr. Wilson tackles the Easter problem, and even that of the
Jewish year, with commendable success, and outlines the Egyptian, Asiatic and Mexican systems. In his later chapters, which are of special interest, he discusses Comte's thirteen-month calendar and the far more practical World Calendar, with a fixed Easter, which is advocated by societies in many countries and has received attention at Geneva. As an Englishman, Mr. Wilson might well have noted that the Christian era—the Year of Grace—is an English invention, popu- larised here by Bede and introduced to Europe by St. Boniface.
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