2QQ EXTRACTS FROM 



fides ? how matay ftand out with their articles of trade 

 in the markets, the fquares, and in the courts ? That 

 with fuch a way of life, the moment when the fun 

 lets and the night comes on 5 fhould be more difcrimi- 

 nate than with us, where it often happens that there 

 is but little daylight the whole day long, is eafily feem 

 The day is actually at an end ; all bufineffes of a cer- 

 tain kind fhould likewife be ended, and this point of 

 time, as is fitting it fhould with a fenfible people, has 

 the fame mark from one end of the year to the other. 

 It is now night [notte], for the twenty-fourth hour is 

 never ufed in fpeech r as in France they fay noon [mi- 

 di], and not twelve o'clock. The bells ring, every 

 one fays a fhort prayer, the fervants light up the 

 lamps-, bring them into- the room, and wifh feliciffimar 

 notte. 



. From this epocha, which always returns at fun-fet- 

 ting, till the next fun fetting, the time is divided into' 

 twenty-four hours ; and as every one now by long ha- 

 bit, knows as well when it is- day, as in what hour 

 noon and midnight: fall: fo all kinds of reckonings are 

 prefently made, in which the Italians feem to find a 

 pleafure and a fort of amufement. There is a natural 

 conveniency in this way of counting the hours, in all 

 affairs th/at have the fmallefr. reference to day and night ; 

 and one eafily perceives how time came to be thus di- 

 vided by a large and fenfible body of people. 



Thus, we find all workfhops, fchosls,. public offices^ 

 banks, open at all feafons of the year, till night ; and 

 every perfon may tranfadl his affairs till then. Has he 

 leifure time upon his hands, he may continue his pro- 

 menades till fun-let, then repair to certain circles,, 



and 



