human
Who is there that has not sometimes had occasion to consult the almanac? Maximilian I., by neglecting to do this, failed in an enterprise against Bruges. It had been concerted with his adherents in that turbulent city, that he should appear before it at a certain time, and they would be ready to rise in his behalf, and open the gates for him. He forgot that it was leap-year, and came a day too soon; and this error on his part cost many of the most zealous of his friends their lives. It is remarkable that neither the historian who relates this, nor the writers who have followed him, should have looked into the almanac to guard against any inaccuracy in the relation; _for they have fixed the appointed day on the eve of St. Matthias, which being the 23rd of February, could not be put out of its course by leap-year_.