398' CIRCLE OF THE HOURS. 



X. O'CLOCK A.M. Not Canonical. 



Obs. We find by Dugdale and other writers that the religious 

 orders used after they had finished Tierce and ]\Iass to retire from 

 the divine office till Sext, which took place at midday. Ten o'clock 

 was therefore often the time of going to study or to work in the gar- 

 den ; one or other of these occupations was obligatory according to 

 the Rule of St. Benedict. These not being hours of recreation and 

 sleep, which in fact took place after dinner, from one o'clock till 

 three, the time of the office of the Nones. In the little Office of the 

 immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin, the hours noted down 

 are not exactly conformable to the old canonical hours, nor is it 

 perhaps necessary to observe them among the laity. 



The Rule of St. Benedict, prescribing manual as %vell as mental 

 labour, was a very salutary one, and contributed, no doubt, togethe; 

 with their abstinence, to the great health and longevity of the mem- 

 bers of their order. From the hour under consideration, ten o'clock, 

 till midday, the labour of the field and the cultivation of the monas- 

 tery garden usually took place, though those who preferred it re- 

 tired to study. 



Ht/mnus decime hora sonante, vel etiam in fetto Transfig. 

 Ex Oroloeiadedit 

 Campana deceni verbera 

 Et sol adscendens altius 

 Flexit per aether seniitam. 

 O vicumque Cliristu (juaeritis, 

 Oculos ill altum tollite: 

 Ille licebit visere 

 Signum pereniiisgloriae. 

 IlTustre quiddam cernimus. 

 Quod uesciat finem pati. 

 Sublime, celsum, interminum, 

 Antiqoius Coelo, & Chao. 

 Hie ille Rex est Gentium, 

 Populique Rex ludaici, 

 Promissus Abrahae Patri, 



Ejusqne in aevura semini. ' 



Hunc & Prophetis testibus, 

 lisdemque siiriiatoribus, 

 Testator, & Pater jubet 

 Audire nos, & tredere. 

 lesD, tibi sit gloria, 

 Qui te revelas parvalis, 

 Cum Patre & almo Spiritu, 

 In sempiternasaecula. 



XI. O'CLOCK A.M. Not Canonical. 



Obs. Eleven o'clock was a time usually occupied by study or 

 labour in the garden or fields in the middle ages, as we have before 

 described. At work, however, some of the religious sung canticles 

 and hymns. 



