114 * 
On the Etymon and Application of the word Hour. [Sept. 1, 
Veder la valle, e ’1 colle, e 1’ aer puro, 
L’ erbe, i fior, 1’acqua viva, chiara, e 
ghiaecia ! 
Udiv gli augei soernar, rimborabar 1’ onde 
E dolce al vento mormorar le froiide ! 
Quanto giova a mirar peader da un ’erta 
Le capre,e pascer questoequel virguito; 
E ’i montanavo all’ ombra piu conserta 
Destar la sua zampogna, je ’1 versa in- 
culto! 
Veder la terra di pomi coperta, 
Ogni arbor da’ suo’ frutti quasi occulto ; 
Veder cozzar monton, vacche mugghiare, 
E le blade oadeggiar come fa il mare ! 
Or de’le pecorelle il rozzo mastro 
Si vede alia sna torma aprir la sbarra : 
Poi quando muore lor col suo vincastro, 
Dolce e a notar come a ciascuna garra : 
Or si vede il villan domar col rastro 
Le dure zolle, or maneggiar la marra : 
Or la contadinella, scinta, e sealza, 
Star con 1’ oche a filar solto unabalza. 
In cotal guisa gia 1’ antiche genti 
Si crede esser godute al secoi d’ oro. 
T’ enjoy the bill, the dale, the breeze, 
The crystal stream with verdure crowned; 
The murmuring wave, the whispering 
trees, 
And woodlands warbling all around. 
To hear the mountaineer’s rude lay, 
Who pipes, embowered in thickest shade, 
While goats on cliffs aerial play, 
And docks disport along the mead : 
Or Autumn’s stores from every bough 
Bestrew the ground, and bend each tree ; 
While in the vale the heifers low, 
And waving corn depicts the sea. 
Or when the shepherd, rough with toil, 
Drives from the fold his fleecy care, 
’Tis pleasant then to mark the while 
Howeach his well-known voice doth hear. 
While to the labours of the soil 
The peasants with their spades repair, 
And country girls, with spinning-wheel; 
Their poultry tend beside the hill. 
Such was the life, ’tis thought, of old. 
Our fathers led in days of gold. 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
O NE of yotir correspondents having 
favoured us with the etymon of 
the word Saracen, perhaps he will not 
object to afford any information he may 
possess concerning the etymon and 
application of the word hour . I have 
read that the word is ghuree in Chaldee, 
and that it denotes, to declare, to tell, 
one notice or declaration ; and also the 
number of strokes on a hell, to be given 
at certain intervals during the conti¬ 
nuance of a watch by night or by day. 
Also, some writers mention that in 
some parts of India are dials with each 
twelfth of a day divided into three 
parts, each called ghuree , having, ac¬ 
cording to the season, from twenty to 
twenty-four minutes of cur reckoning ; 
and therefore, that when we read of 
Daniel being astonished one hour , the 
probability is, that he was in that state 
one ghuree, one such division of time, 
equal to about twenty minutes; and 
likewise of Tobit, being prostrate about 
two hours , the Chaldee mentions three 
ghurees , perhaps a little more duration 
than one of our hours. The early 
Hebrews marked the day by four 
divisions, morning, noon, first evening, 
and second evening; and the night by 
night, midnight, and morning watch, 
But the Romans and Greeks, dividing 
the night into four watches , the Jews 
fol lowed their method, and also divided 
the day into twelve equal parts, called 
hours , each equal in duration to fhe 
other, but varying in reference to the 
different seasons ; the twelve divisions 
of the long days much exceeding in 
length those of the short days. The 
first hour commenced at sun-rise, (cor¬ 
responding to our six o’clock at the 
equinox;) the third hour ended at 
cur nine o’clock ; and the sixth hour 
at every season corresponded to noon. 
If we view the word hour as of 
northern origin, as connected cor, cor, 
oris , a word, or ora , the mouth, we see 
some reference to its application in 
Chaldee. Any testimony viva voce is 
called oral , what is by the mouth told, 
mentioned, or promulgated. The word 
hour , in this application, signifies the 
telling what division of time is made, 
and what remains in future; and this 
telling may be effected various ways 
besides the mouth, as by strokes on a 
bell, calls from a bird, parts of a tune 
played, and any other way deemed 
adequate by mechanical genius. The 
index on the face of the time-piece, 
chronometer, clock, or watch, points to 
or indicates the precise part of such 
division; but in my opinion, in strict¬ 
ness of application, hour implies some 
sensitive method of denoting only the 
divisions. In some manufactories that 
employ steam-engines, a piece of me¬ 
chanism, called a steam clock, is moved 
by the engine, to indicate the quantum 
of motion compared with a time-piece, 
nigh; but I do not remember hearing 
its divisions called hours. x A. 
For 
