TIME. 



The foregoing fix cafes comprehend all the varieties that 

 occur in the reduftioii of time ; and for their numerical il- 

 lullration, fee our article Chronometer. 



For the application of time to the meafurcmeut of fpace 

 and motion, fee Lon'gitude and Lunak Ohfervations. 



Time, Civil, is aftronomical time accommodated to civil 

 ufes, and formed and diftinguiflied into years, months, days, 

 and hours, with their fiibdivifions : the reckoning of the 

 hours as civil to twelve twice over, is meant to mark the 

 natural day. 



Time, in Heathen Mythology, was perfonified and deified. 

 Saturn was ufually the fymbolof it. Time was reprcfented 

 with wings, to mark the rapidity with which it pafles, 

 and with a fcythe, to fignify its ravages. It was divided 

 into feveral parts ; the century, the generation or fpace of 

 thirty years, the luftrum, the year, the fcafons, the months, 

 the days, and the hours ; and each of thefe parts had its par- 

 ticular figure in men or women, according as their names 

 were mafculine or feminine ; their images were uftd hi reli- 

 gious ceremonies. 



Time, in Mufic, is an affeAion of found, by which we 

 denominate it long ox fiort, with regard to its continuance in 

 the fame degree of tune. 



Time and tune are the great properties of found, on 

 whofe difference or proportions mufic depends : each has its 

 feveral charms : where the lime or duration of the notes is 

 equal, the differences of tune alone are capable of entertain- 

 ing us with endltfs pleafure. 



And of the power of time alone, i. c. of the pleafures 

 arifing from the various meafures of long and fhort, fwift 

 and flow, we have an inftance in the drum, which has no dif- 

 ference of notes, as to tune. 



Time, in mufic, is confidered either with refpeft to the 

 abfolute duration of the notes, i. e. the duration confidered in 

 every note by itfelf, and meafured by fome external notion 

 foreign to the mufic ; in refpeft to which the compofition is 

 faid to be quick or (low : or it is confidered with refpedt to 

 the relative quantity or proportion of the notes compared 

 with one another. See Note. 



The figns or charafters by which the time of notes is re- 

 prcfented, are fheven under the article Characters, in 

 Mufic, where the names, proportions, &c. are alfo ex- 

 preffed. 



A femi-breve, for inftance, is marked to be equal to two 

 minims, a minim to two crotchets, a crotchet to two quavers, 

 and fo on, ftill in a duplicate ratio, i. e. in the ratio of 2 : i . 

 Now where the notes refpeft each other thus, i. e. where 

 they are in this ratio, the mufic is faid to be in duple, i. e. 

 double or common time. 



When the feveral notes are triple of each other, or in the 

 ratio 3 : i> that is, when the femi-breve is equal to three 

 minims, the minim to three crotchets, &c. the mufic is faid 

 to be in triple time. 



To render this part as fimple as poffible, the proportions 

 already ftated among the notes are fixed and invariable : and 

 to exprefs the proportion of 3 : i, a point (.) is added to 

 the right fide of any note, which is deemed equivalent to 

 half of it ; and by this means a pointed femi-breve, O. be- 

 comes equal to three minims, and fo of the reft. 



From hence arife feveral other ratios conftituting new 

 kinds of triple time ; as 2 : 3 and 3 ; 4, &c. ; but thefe, Mr. 

 Malcolm obferves, are of no real fervice, and are not per- 

 ceived without a painful attention. For the proportions of 

 the times of notes, to afford us pleafure, muft be iuch as are 

 not difficultly perceived ; on which account the only ratios 

 iit for mufic, befide that of equality, are the double and 

 triple. 



Vol. XXXV. 



Time, Common or Duple, is of two fpecies : tlte firft, 

 when every bai- or meafure is equal to a femi-breve, or ita 

 value in any combination of notes of a lefs quantity. 



The fecond, where every bar is equal to a minim, or its 

 value in lefs notes. The movements of this kind of mea- 

 fure are various, but there are three common difi.inftion3 ; 

 the full Jlow, fignified at the beginning by llie mark C ; tiie 



fecond Iri/i, fignified by £ 2 ; tli« t^iird very quid, figni- 

 fied by ^ J 



But what that flow, brifk, and quick i«, is very uncer- 

 tain, and only to be learned by praftice. The nearell mea- 

 fure we know of, is to make a quaver the lenglh of the pulfe 

 of a good watch ; then a crotchet will be equal to two 

 pulfes, a minim to four, and the whole meafure or femi- 

 breve to eight. This may be reputed the meafure of Iriji 

 time ; as for the Jlo-w, it is as long again, and the quick is 

 only half as long. 



Some propole to meafure it by imagining the bar as 

 aftually divided into four crotchets, in the firft kind, and fo 

 make the whole as long as one may diftinftly pronounce 

 thefe four words, one, two, three, four, all of equal length : 

 fo that the firfl: crotchet may be applied to cue, the fecond to 

 two, Sec. and for other notes proportionally ; and this is 

 made the brifk movement of common time. 



The whole meafure then of common time is equal to a 

 femi-breve, or a minim ; but thefe are varioufly fubdivided 

 into notes of lefs quantities. 



Now to keep the time equal, we make ufe of a motion of 

 the hand or foot, thus : knowing the true time of a crotchet, 

 we fhall fuppofe the meafure or bar aftually fubdivided into 

 four crotchets for the firft fpecies of common time ; then 

 the half meafure will be two crotchets ; therefore the hand 

 or foot being up, if we put it down with the very beginning 

 of the firft note or crotchet, and then raife it with the third, 

 and then down to begin the next meafure ; this is called 

 heating 0/ time. 



-By praftice, they get a habit of making this motion very 

 equal, and confequently of dividing the meafure or bar into 

 equal parts, up and down ; as alfo of taking all the notes in 

 the juft proportion, fo as to begin and end them precifely 

 with the beating. In the meafure of two crotchets, they 

 beat down the firft, and the fecond up. Some call each 

 half of the meafure in common time, a time; and fo they 

 call this the mode or meafure of tw» times, or the dupla 

 meafure. 



Again, fome mark the meafure of two crotchets with a 

 2 or ;, fignifying it to be equal to two notes, of which four 

 make a femi-breve ; and fome mark it -J for quavers. 

 Malcolm's Mufic, p. 385, &c. 



Time, /or Triple. See TniPLS-Time. 



TiME-Ttiile. See Characters, Franco, and Plate I*. 



Time, in Fencing. There are three kinds of time ; that 

 of the fword, that of the foot, and that of the whole body. 

 All the times that are perceived out of their meafure, are 

 only to be confidered as appeals, or feints, to deceive and 

 amufe the enemy. See Fencing. 



Time, in the Manege, is fometimes taken for the motion 

 of a hoife, that obferves meafure and juftncfs in performing 

 a manege ; and fometimes it fignifies the interval between 

 two of his motions. In the manege of a ftep and a leap, 

 the horfe makes by turns a corvet between two caprioles ; 

 and in that cafe the corvet is one time that prepares the 

 horfe for the caprioles. 



4 5 The 



