In the edition named these last verses are not translated, it being a Prymer in Latin only (with some When that they thought for payn that he thursted, Hys thurst for to quench they profferd hym gall: Thys lamb thus ylludyd bought owr synnes all. Owre mercyfull lorde Jesu goddys sonne, Callyng vnto hys fader almyghty, Yelded up hys soule et (sic) sone vppon none, The spyryte departyd that blessyd body: The sonne waxed darke, the yerth quoke wondersly, Greate meruelous thynges to beholde and here, Of Jesu the noble and blessyd bodye At complyntyme was brought Spycyd and adournyd fra- woundys tendure, And thy deth besely styll to remember." The reader may not object also to see the following English verses, which sometimes occur in the later Prymers they intend to illustrate by the variety of the months, the ages of man's life. I And yet a knyght percyd hys quote from the edition of 1538. exceptions as above, and occasional prayers): but the Prymer of 1543 gives us the following version. O blessed chryst these houres canonycall, paynes all, с mas. And. for. grace. pray. good.tho. On the title page of the same volume are the following verses. "God be in my hede, And in myn understandynge; And in my lokynge; And in myn spekynge. And in my thynkynge: And at my departynge." Some editions of the Horæ contain short offices "of the compassyon of oure Lady." These also refer each hour to a particular sorrow which the blessed Virgin endured during the Passion. But I must not omit upon this subject, an account which is occasionally found in the Prymers, "Howe the sayenge of the houres fyrste began, and why they are so called." I quote now from an edition printed at Rouen, by Le Roux. 1538. 8vo. "The fyrst that euer we fynde in scripture to haue used the worshyppynge of god, at certeyne set houres of the daye, was Daniel the prophete, as it appered in his .vi. chapi. And in the newe testament in the Actes of the apostles the .x. chapitre, we rede, that saynt Peter thapostle accustomed hym selfe to certayn houres of prayer. By whiche examples (as saynt Cypriane testefied) the catholyke church of Chryste did fyrst receyue and admyt suche maner of prayeing. Whereupon the same usuall seruice that we call (Pryme and houres) was fyrste instituted to be sayde and songen here in the Churches of Englande, accordyng to the custome and vse of the diocese, somewhere after the vse of Sarum, and somwhere after the vse of Yorke. And therfore whan we rede Hora prima, tertia, sexta, and nona, that is, the fyrste, the thyrde, the sixte, and the nynth houre, euyn as they make mention of seuerall houres, so were they and may be vsed at seuerall tymes of the daye, to be sayde in remembrance of Christes passion, and the compassion of the virgin his moder." These daily offices were called Hours, (Hora) either "ab orando, nam ora idem videtur esse, ac hora," or rather because they were to be recited at certain hours of the day appointed by the Church. Canonical, be cause according to the canon, or rule, of the Church. Some add, because they are the prayers to be said by Canons in choir, or because canonical simply means ecclesiastical.21 CHAPTER II HE earliest mention of the word Breviary to de TH note the Divine Office, is to be found in Micro logus, the author of which treatise flourished about the year 1080. He is speaking "de officiis Jejuniorum," and alluding to the Gospel Egressus Jesus adds "sicut etiam in antiquis Breviariis ordinatum reperimus." 22 A manuscript was some years ago remaining in the monastery of Casino, entitled Breviarium, written about A. D. 1100. But it seems rather to have been an Ordinale, from the account given by Zaccaria.23 22 Cap. 28. Cit. Gavantus. Tom. 2. §. 2. 1. He does not give the passage. This tract "Micrologus" de ecclesiasticis observationibus is especially valuable. The first edition of any part of it, was by Cochlæus in his Speculum antiquæ devotionis de Missa: soon afterwards entire by Pamelius, then the first 22 chapters, by Cassander, and again the whole by Hittorpius in the Auctarium to the Bibl. Patrum. Cassander, Opera, p. 121, speaks in the most contemptuous terms of the first edition, as being from an incorrect M.S.; for there can be no doubt that Cochlæus himself deserved the commendation which Hittorpius gives him, in his preface to another work, "vir eruditissimus, et diligens Ecclesiasticæ antiquitatis scrutator," and again, "Doctoris Cochlæi judicium, quod fuit exactissimum." Auct. Bibl. Patr. Tom. 1. p. 1166. 23 He says that it contains "totius Ecclesiastici officii rubricas, ritus etiam, et cæremonias tam officii recitandi, quam missæ ce |