(Vol. vii., p. 58.)
MR. YARRUM'S _exposé_ of Southey's singular blunder is perfectly just; but
it does not include _the whole_ truth, a consideration of which renders the
lapsus even more notable and unaccountable than if it arose _only_ from a
want of acquaintance with the distribution of Roman Catholic Feriæ.
The allegation of error against the historians, because they had "fixed the
appointed day on the eve of Mathias," would seem to imply that they might
have fixed upon some other feast-day with more correctness; whereas there
is no other in the calendar which could by any possibility be affected by
leap-year: but the most extraordinary part of the mistake is, the ignorance
it displays (scarcely credible in Southey) of the origin and etymology of
the bissextile institution--the very subject he was criticising.
Because the name "bissextile," as every body knows, arose from the
repetition in leap-year of the identical day in question: the sixth of the
kalends of March; the 24th of February; the feast of the Regifugium amongst
the Romans; and of its substitute, that of St. Mathias, amongst the
Christians.
It is clear, that since the Regifugium was held upon the sixth day before
the 1st of March (both inclusive), that day must, according to our {116}
reckoning, be the 24th of February in common years, and the 25th in
leap-years: therefore, the supernumerary or superfluous day, added on
account of leap-year, was considered to be the 24th of February, and not
the 25th; which latter, in those years, became the true "Sixth before the
Kalends." Indeed, it is highly probable, although it cannot be supported by
direct evidence, that the first day of the double sextile was distinguished
from its name-fellow of the following day by having the word "bis" prefixed
to _sextum_; so that, in leap-years, the 24th of February would be
expressed as follows: "Ante diem _bis_-VI Calend. Martias;" while the
following day, or the 25th of February (being considered the real Simon
Pure), would retain the usual designation of "A.D. VI Calend. Mar." Such an
hypothesis offers a reasonable explanation of the seeming reversal in terms
of calling the day which _first_ arrived _posterior_, and that which
succeeded it _prior_.
Although the Church of England Calendar now places the feast of Saint
Mathias invariably on the 24th of February in all years, yet the earlier
copies of the Book of Common Prayer allocated it to "The Sixth of the
Kalends of March," without any direction as to which of the two days,
bearing that name in leap-years, it should be appropriated. The modern
Reformed Church Calendar therefore repudiates the usage of the Romans
themselves, rather than that of the Roman Catholics.