Monkish Prayers.
The monks used to say their prayers no less than seven times in twenty-four hours—
1st. Nocturnal, at cock-crowing (2 o'clock in the morning).
2d. Matins, at 6 o'clock in the morning.
3d. Tierce, at 9 o'clock in the morning.
4th. Sext, at 12 o'clock noon.
5th. None, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon.
6th. Vespers, at 6 o'clock in the afternoon.
7th. Compline, soon after 7.
Quarles wrote a neat epigram on the subject—
"For all our prayers the Almighty does regard
The judgment of the balance, not the yard;
He loves not words, but matter; 't is His pleasure
To buy His wares by weight, and not by measure."