I beg to ask whether the existing knowledge of the details of Saxon architecture substantiates Selden's view; and whether this bell was also the alarum-bell of the castle, hanging in an outside turret?
Many thanks to my correspondent, and to "NOTES AND QUERIES" for the introduction to his notice.
ALFRED GATTY.
Minor Queries Answered.
Cycle of the Moon.
—Can any of your correspondents inform me in what year the new moon last fell on the 1st of January? I am no astronomer, but I believe the moon's cycles is a period of nineteen years, and that whenever the new moon falls on the 1st January, the cycle begins.
BENBOW.
Birmingham.
[The above matter is made the more puzzling to all who are not astronomers, by the pertinacity with which popular writers persist in speaking of the moon's motions as if they were regular.
There is no particular beginning to the cycle of nineteen years: anybody may make it begin when he pleases. What it means is this: that in any set of nineteen years, the new and full moons generally (not always) fall on the same days as in the preceding nineteen years. For instance, in 1831, the 14th of March was a day of new moon: go on nineteen years, that is, to the 14th of March, 1850; most probably, not certainly, this must be a day of new moon. It happens, however, otherwise; for in 1850 the new moon is on the 13th. But in the Aprils of both years, the new moons are on the 12th; in the Junes, on the 10th. All that can be said is, that where any day of any year is new moon, most probably that day nineteen years is new moon also, and certainly either the day before or the day after. In that cycle of nineteen years, which is called the cycle of the golden number, there is an arbitrary beginning, which has something to do with the new moon falling near the 1st of January. The cycle in which we now are, began (that is, had the year marked 1) in 1843.