assage from Ramusio to express the time of day
are taken from the canonical hours of prayer. The following passage from
_Robert de Borron's Romance of Merlin_ illustrates these terms: Gauvain
"quand il se levoit le matin, avoit la force al millor chevalier del
monde; et quant vint a heure de prime si li doubloit, et a heure de tierce
aussi; et quant il vint a eure de midi si revenoit a sa premiere force ou
il avoit este le matin; et quant vint a eure de nonne et a toutes les
seures de la nuit estoit-il toudis en sa premiere force." (Quoted in
introd. to _Messir Gauvain_, etc., edited by _C. Hippeau_, Paris, 1862,
pp. xii.-xiii.) The term _Half Tierce_ is frequent in mediaeval Italian,
e.g. in Dante:--

"Levati sut disse'l Maestro, in piede:
La via e lunga, e'l cammino e malvagio:
E gia il Sole a mezza terza riede." (Inf. xxxiv,)

_Half-prime_ we have in Chaucer:--

"Say forth thy tale and tary not the time
Lo Depeford, and it is half way prime."
--(Reeve's Prologue.)

Definitions of these terms as given by Sir H. Nicolas and Mr. Thomas
Wright (_Chron. of Hist._ p. 195, and _Marco Polo_, p. 392) do not agree
with those of Italian authorities; perhaps in the north they were applied
with variation. Dante dwells on the matter in two passages of his
_Convito_ (Tratt. III. cap. 6, and Tratt. IV. cap. 23); and the following
diagram elucidates the terms in accordance with his words, and with other
Italian authority, oral and literary:--

"_Te lucis ante terminum._"

X 12 6
.
Compieta. .
.
* 11 5
.
Mezza-Vespro. .
.
* 10 4
.
.
.
Vespro. X 9 3
.
. E
. c
* 8 c 2 P.M.
. l
Mezza-Nona. . e C
. s i
* 7 i 1 v
. a i
Nona. . s l
. t
# 6 i 12
. c H
Sesta. . a o
. l u
* 5 11 r