THE ALMANACK FOR 1726 BY NATHANIEL AMES, Jun. Student in Physick and Astronomy. BOSTON: Printed and Sold by B. Green, and Sold also at the Booksellers shops. 1726.1 NOW Seventeen hundred & Twenty Six the Sun, In divers Lands, Kingdoms and Countries seen, This Eclipse of the Moon happens so near the Great Benevolent Jupiter, the Effects 'tis hop'd will not be ill. JANUARY. Our Northern Climes in shiv'ring Cold remain Till Glorious Phœbus shall return again. More Snow than Lillies. FEBRUARY. Cold Weather still on us attends We feel it at our Finger's ends. 'BARTHOLOMEW GREEN, JR., printed the Almanacks from 1726 to 1733, inclusive, and perhaps those for 1734-1735. He was a son of Bartholomew Green, also a printer, and grandson of Samuel Green, the "Colledge printer" at Cambridge, who came over with Governor Winthrop in 1630. Bartholomew, Jr., was also connected with John Draper, his brother-inlaw, in the business until about 1734, and later with John Bushell, and Bezoune Allen. This latter partnership continued until about 1751, when Green removed with his printing materials to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he died shortly after his arrival. Who out of Fortune's smiles do run, All men their Company will shun. MARCH. Now comes the Spring, Sol by his splendid Rays Expectations of Peace. APRIL. Nature, that wealthy Dame, now briskly Pours Some in Dissembling have such Art, MAY. The wing'd Musicians now do Sing JUNE. Now Sol from Cancer sends his Rays JULY. The Husbandman walks o're his fertile Fields, AUGUST. Lend them that want: th' Almighty fav'reth such There ne'er was any Age so clear SEPTEMBER. Phoebus with the Coelestial Scales doth now OCTOBER. Now some before cold Boreas fly And many Thousands fall and Die. Christopher Columbus found out the New World Oct. 11, 1492. NOVEMBER. No Art preserves from Age: devouring Time DECEMBER. The Year is past away, our Glass doth run, And while we speak, the present Minute's gone. KIND READER. The Method of this Almanack is so plain that it needs no Explanation, except the place of Saturn and Jupiter, which is over the last Column, at the top of every Page, for the 1st, 8th, 16th and 24th Days of every Month in this Year. The Names and Characters of the Planets, Signs, Aspects and Nodes are these, The Planets, The Signs, Saturn h, Jupiter 2, Mars ♂, Sol or Sun O, Venus ?, . Aries, Taurus, Gemini II, Cancer, Leo c, Virgo MP, Libra, Scorpio M, Sagitarius, Capricorn VS, Aquarius, Pisces X. The Old Aspects are Five in Number, as the Conjunction ♂, Sextile, Quartile, Trine A, Opposition . The New Aspects are Eight in Number, viz. The ( The Dragons Head 8, Dragons Tail 8, Nodes, Part of Fortune . Note, The Glorious Planet Venus is Occidental or Evening Star, till the 25 of March, from thence Oriential or Morning Star, to the Years End. TO THE READER. COURTEOUS READER, I Have here adventured to present you with an Almanack for the Ensuing Year. It being my first made Public by the Press; Should it find Acceptance, I have my End and shall receive sufficient Encouragement to Undertake somewhat more for your benefit. Thus Reader for your sake I have exposed my self to the dangerous & sharp Teeth of envious Detractors, which is a great Hazard especially in this polish'd Age, among so many fine & curious Wits, who scarcely can approve of anything, tho' never so Judiciously Composed. There has been no pains, nor care, wanting to render these Calculations as free from Errors as possible, yet if any fault committed by my Pen or Press pass Uncorrected, Excuse it; in so doing you will not only do your self a Kindness, but also oblige him, who is a Friend to all that are Mathematically inclined, and a real Lover of the most. sublime study of Astronomy. Bridgwater, Octob. 12th, 1725. N. AMES. Read then and Learn but don't all faults Object, To whom my Works appeal, and if I find, Twice in a Century (Old Indians say,) Our Land abounds with Bears & Beasts of Prey; And dwell in Desert yet to us unknown; They'll come, no more from whence they do retire, (Dele Sup. C. Boston, the First Tuesday in May.) Notes on 1726.—This Almanack partakes largely of the quality of contemporaneous weather books, but it must be remembered that the author was but a youth, and liable to follow at first the well worn path laid out by previous star-gazers. The couplets at the head of each monthly page are rather of a better conception than the productions of the average almanack bard,--and the interlined wisdom give promise of a maturing mind. The "Expectations of Peace" under March, doubtless allude to the difficulties with the Indians, as neither the mother country nor the Colonies were at this time otherwise involved. The allusion to the Eclipse of the Moon, and its probable "effects" the benevolent Jupiter gives some evidence of the author's inclination toward the prevailing belief in astrology. His apologetic epistle displays his evident fear of adverse criticism, so general at this period, and notably so among the almanack makers, but he solaces himself by "dropping into poetry" to appease the would-be censor. The jingle concerning the Indian tradition is curious, as being a relic of aboriginal ideas, never to my observation having been referred to by any other writer. THE ALMANACK FOR 1727 BY NATHANIEL AMES, Jun. Student in Physick and Astronomy. BOSTON: Printed and Sold by B. Green, and Sold also at the Booksellers Shops, 1727. "Swift Winged Time Feather'd with Flying Hours, That which is got by Fraud and Knavery, |