[Footnote 54: Hobbesii Examen. et Emend. Hod. Math. P. 55. Edit.
Amstel.]
It may be observed also on the language of the Quakers, that is, on that
part of it, which relates to the alteration of the names of the months
and days, that this alteration would form the most perfect model for an
universal calendar of any that has yet appeared in the world. The French
nation chose to alter their calendar, and, to make it useful to
husbandry, they designated their months, so that they should be
representatives of the different seasons of the year. They called them
snowy, and windy, and harvest, and vintage-months, and the like. But in
so large a territory, as that of France, these new designations were not
the representatives of the truth. The northern and southern parts were
not alike in their climate. Much less could these designations speak
the truth for other parts of the world: whereas numerical appellations
might be adopted with truth, and be attended with usefulness to all the
nations of the world, who divided their time in the same manner.
On the latter subject of the names of the days and months, the
alteration of which is considered as the most objectionable by the
world, I shall only observe, that, if the Quakers have religious
scruples concerning them, it is their duty to persevere in the disuse of
them.
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