anniversary return of the day on which a person was born. The ancients were religious in the celebration of birth-days, and thence drew omens of the felicity of the coming year. The manner of celebrating birth-days was by wearing a splendid dress; displaying a sort of rings peculiar to that day; offering sacrifices of wine and frankincense, the men to their genius, the women to Juno; giving suppers, and treating their friends and clients, who in return made them presents, wrote and sang their panegyrics, and offered vows and good wishes for the frequent happy returns of the same day. The birth-days of emperors were also celebrated with public sports, feasts, vows, and medals struck on the occasion. But the ancients, it is to be observed, had other sorts of birth-days besides the days on which they were literally born. The day of their adoption was always reputed as a birth-day, and celebrated accordingly. The emperor Hadrian, we are told, observed three birth-days; the day of his nativity, that of his adoption, and that of his inauguration. In those times it was held, that men were not born only on those days when they first came into the world, but also on those when they arrived at the chief honours and commands in the commonwealth, particularly the consulship. Hence Cicero, in his oration Ad Quirites, after his return from exile, says, *A parentibus, id quod necesse erat, paremus non proceratus; a coevis natus sum consularis.* Birth-days with us are commonly occasions of feasting, jollity, and congratulation.