CLARK, WALTER, of Northumberland County, was a native of Paxtang Township, Lancaster, now Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. In 1771, in conjunction with his brothers, Robert and William, he purchased land, and removed to Buffalo Valley. He was a member of the Committee of Safety for Northumberland County Feb. 8, 1776, of the Convention of July 15, 1776; and March 21, 1777, appointed sub-lieutenant of Northumberland County. In 1804, Mr. Clark removed to Mercer County, where he died.

CLARK, WILLIAM, of Cumberland County, was born in Lancaster, now Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, in 1740. At the beginning of the Revolution he assisted in organizing the Associators, and became Colonel of one of the Cumberland County battalions. He was a member of the Convention of July 15, 1776, and of the General Assembly in 1776 and 1777. He was appointed paymaster of the Cumberland County militia August 20, 1777. He died at his residence in Middleton Township, March 29, 1804.

Clymer, George, of the city of Philadelphia, was born March 16, 1739, of English parentage, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His father dying when George was only seven years of age, he was taken by his maternal uncle William Coleman, educated, and subsequently entered his counting-house. In 1767 he was chosen a member of the Common Council of Philadelphia. At the celebrated tea-meeting, held in that city October 16, 1773, Mr. Clymer was appointed Chairman of the Committee to request the resignation of the tea agents. He was elected an alderman of the city of Philadelphia in 1774; a delegate to the Provincial Conference of January 23, 1775; member of the Committee of Safety from October 2, 1775, to July 22, 1776; and member of the Convention of July 15, 1776, by which body he was chosen to the Continental Congress July 20, 1776, and, although several weeks after the passage of the Declaration, signed that instrument. In September, 1776, he was sent with Stockton, of N. J., to confer with Washington on the affairs of the army. In 1777 he was

chosen to Congress by the Assembly of the State. On Dec. 7, 1778, he was appointed one of the Commissioners to attend the Indian treaty at Fort Pitt. In 1780 he was again chosen to Congress, and in November, with John Nixon assisted in organizing the Bank of North America. At the close of the Revolution he removed to Princeton, N. J., but returning to Pennsylvania shortly after, he was elected to the Assembly, serving from 1785 to 1788, during which period he aided in modifying the penal code of the State. He was a member of the Convention which framed the Federal Constitution, and in November, 1788, elected to the first Congress of the United States. In 1791 he was appointed by President Washington Collector of Excise for Pennsylvania, a position he resigned towards the close of the year 1794. With Messrs. Pickens and Hawkins he was appointed in 1796 to negotiate a treaty with the Creek and Cherokee Indians, which was consummated on the 29th of June the same year. He subsequently withdrew from public affairs, but served as President of the Academy of Fine Arts, and of the Pennsylvania Bank. He died at Morrisville, Bucks County, Pennsylvania, January 23, 1813.

VOL. III.-14

(To be continued.)

NOTES ON SUNDRY CALENDARS.

BY ALEXANDER WILCOCKS.

The very interesting article by Mr. Spencer Bonsall on "Changes of Style in the Calendar" in Nos. 8 and 9 of this Magazine rather piques the curiosity of students of history and genealogy as to the character of other calendars which have had, or may still have, existence.

On examining the fifty short chapters in which the subject of Calendars is treated by M. François Arago in his "Astronomie Populaire," one is rewarded by learning some valuable facts regarding them.

Perhaps the most interesting of the non-Christian Calendars described by him, because of its superior accuracy, was that of Persia.

The following is a translation of Mons. Arago's account of it as it appears in Chapter XIX. Book XXIII.

THE PERSIAN YEAR IN THE Eleventh Century.

The Persians had already adopted in the eleventh century an intercalation which brought their civil year very near to the astronomical one, and which maintained the equinoxes and the solstices upon the same days of the civil year.

It was thus constituted: Three ordinary years of 365 days were followed by a leap-year of 366 days, and this period of four years was repeated seven times. This was succeeded by a period in which the leap-year did not occur until after four ordinary years.

Let us ask what length of year ensues from this mode of intercalation? Here is the answer:

The first seven periods form a total of 28 years, the eighth period comprises five years, making a total of 33 years.

Therefore, in 33 years the Persians intercalate 8 days.

Hence the fractional part of the year beyond the 365 days

8 days
33

Between the civil year as amended by Gregory XIII.1 and the astronomical year there is a difference of

3,652,424ds 3,652,422ds.64

1dy.36

2ds.36

Thus it appears that the Persian mode of intercalation is superior in accuracy to the Gregorian Calendar now adopted by the greater part of Europe, and of the New World.

In his "History of the French Revolution" M. Thiers describes the twelve months into which the year was divided by the Directory. He also tells us of the complementary days, and the "sans culotides;" but about the manner in which the "Republican year" was made to keep pace with the astronomical year he says absolutely nothing.

More strange still than the above is the fact that while M. Arago describes with minuteness so many different calendars, upon the above interesting point in the Republican Calendar he says as little as does M. Thiers.

Upon one point only he enlarges, and thereon bases the reflection, that as the exact day on which the autumnal equinox occurs was to be calculated upon the longitude of the meridian of Paris, the founders of the Republican Calendar might have been assured that national jealousy would certainly prevent the people of other countries from adopting it.

In the "Atlas Universel d'Histoire et de Géographie," par M. N. Bouillet, under the head of "Chronologie" may be found a short, but minute account of the Republican Calendar. The following is a translation of the article:

REPUBLICAN ERA.

This era, the most recent of all, is also that which has lasted the shortest time. Established in France by a decree of the Convention on the 5th October, 1793, it had a retroactive commencement from the 22d Sept. 1792.

As precedently, the ordinary years were to contain 365 days, those which contained 366 days were to be called sextiles (and not bisextiles). The difference consisted solely in the mode of intercalation.

It was ordered that the year 3 should be sextile, that from this epoch each fourth year should be sextile until the year 15; after which a 366th day should not be added till the year 20.

This sequence was to be repeated until the years 48 and 53 of the era. Thereafter a cycle of 33 years should be conformed to, in which every fourth year a sixth day called épagomène (that is to say, intercalated) should be added, but in such a manner that after the seventh intercalation, no addition should be made to the complementary days until the fifth year, when the 8th intercalation was to be made.

Special decrees in the years 1793 and 1794 abolished this mode of intercalation, and ordered that the first day of the year should always be that of the autumnal equinox, which was to be ascertained each year by astronomical calculations.

The duration of the Republican era was only 13 years and 100 days. By a Senatus consultum of the 22d Fructidor in the year 13, the conservative senate abolished this institution, and the 10th Nivose of the year 14 was followed immediately by the 1st of January, 1806.

In the preparation of the article "Chronologie" in the "Atlas" from which the above is translated, the Collaborator of Mons. Bouillet was Mons. Caillet.

It will be observed that by the combined testimony of these two authorities, the mode of intercalation by which the Convention proposed to keep their civil year in coincidence with the astronomical year was absolutely identical with that adopted in Persia in the Eleventh Century.