February is so called because the Romans were then purified (Februabatur) by a sacrifice, in remembrance of which the collector of sewer rates comes round and demands of us a sacrifice which, from all appearances, seems about as efficacious as that of the Romans. Soile say Februa was a goddess who presided over purifications, but the best writers disbelieve in a washerwoman having ever been sent aloft, thought there are numerous instances of her fraternity having been devoted in a contrary direction by Paterfamilias, when he is stifled with the muggy steam from the washhouse, or apprised that his choice lies between cold mutton and the club. Februa is also a name of Juno, but the fact is, that the gods and goddesses were so disreputable that they were always obliged to borrow one another’s names, and there ought to have been a temple to the god Alias.
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